Insider Movement: Evangelicals and America’s New Civic Religion
The Insider Movement in Missions In Christian missions an Insider Movement refers to a group of followers of Jesus who remain socially, culturally, and, to some extent, religiously embedded within a non-Christian religion. For example, in the Insider Movement paradigm a Muslim who comes to faith in Jesus may remain within the Islamic community. He […]
The Refreshing Reality of Hell
By Jesse Sumpter In dark times like these, one of our great hopes is the reality of Hell. It might seem odd to say that, but in the midst of terror and destruction, Hell is a wonderful comfort for Christians to reflect on. The doctrine of Hell also guards us against two common errors that […]
What Christian Witness?
By Levi Secord One tired argument aimed at rowdy Baptists (and Presbyterians) is the need to protect our witness. As the reasoning goes, Christians should wear facemasks, not reopen before the community is ready, and submit to unlawful closures of churches all in the name of protecting our witness. I wonder if those making such […]
Ok Dude: Zuby’s Truth-Telling New Single
Rap succeeds best as a transgressive genre—hard men saying hard truths against the spirit of the age. Zuby’s new single Ok Dude hits the mark in just this way. But first, the backstory: In February, Twitter suspended Zuby’s account (@ZubyMusic) after he replied “Ok dude” to a male transgender activist who identifies as a woman. […]
Constitutional Law & The Cult of Experts
Guest Post By Brian Sauvé As our forefather John Adams said, “If ye would know a people, know their Facebook memes.” I mean, he probably would have said that. There’s a meme multiplying through the internet that caught my eye the other day. It says something to the effect of, “Huh, that’s weird. All my […]
Loving Your Neighbor: COVID-19 Edition
By Levi Secord If there is a chief faux-virtue today, it is love. No one wants to be against love, especially Christians. After all, God is love. For this reason, appealing to some vague definition of love is a play run on Christians all the time. I cringe more often than not when I hear […]
The Wrath of the Educrats
By Rhett Burns The Educrats are angry. And it seems they are lashing out in fear, having been threatened by the terrible vision of ten-year-olds learning their math facts at the kitchen table. Harvard Magazine ran a hit piece by Erin O’Donnell in its most recent issue, insinuating that home schools are hotbeds of abuse […]
Seductive Statism: David Bahnsen, Robert Sirico, and Big Government
By Jesse Sumpter Thursday, April 9, Acton Institute hosted a live conversation on Zoom between David Bahnsen and Fr. Robert Sirico about the current Covid-19 Economic situation. David Bahnsen is the Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of The Bahnsen Group, managing over $2.25 billion in client assets. Bahnsen was recently on CrossPolitic to talk […]
Coronaing Out of Control
By Levi Secord At this point, frustration, bewilderment, and despair rule over much of our world. As a pastor, I’m tasked with shepherding my flock throughout life. This calling includes helping them live faithfully in the face of global uncertainty. Trials shed light on who we are, especially our weaknesses. Unfortunately, like with other controversies […]
Stimulus Checks are Bad for the Economy
By Jesse Sumpter President Trump is seeking $850 billion to $1 trillion in stimulus measures for the economy. As part of this proposal, the President has suggested sending stimulus checks to individual Americans. One proposal suggested two rounds of direct payments to taxpayers: one check on April 6 and a second check on May 18. […]
Book Review: The Book that Made your World by Vishal Mangalwadi
By Jesse Sumpter Vishal Mangalwadi, a Christian from India, has written a number of books. One of his recent ones is The Book that Made Your World: How the Bible Created the Soul of Western Civilization. In it, he recounts his experience growing up in India and how different the Indian culture is from the […]
Did America Have A Christian Founding? Interview with Mark David Hall
Jesse Sumpter: Thank you for doing this interview, Mark. Your book Did America Have A Christian Founding is a wonderful resource for those interested in knowing more about America’s Christian founding. Some people would disagree with your thesis. Why do some people question America’s Christian founding? Mark David Hall: Thanks for taking the time to […]
On How We Speak of Sin
Guest Post by Aaron O’Kelley In a 2013 essay, Thabiti Anyabwile wrote regarding same-sex marriage, “Turns out that being civil about indecency actually hurts the traditional cause.” His point was that polite discourse about abominable behavior plays a role in normalizing such behavior. It is not difficult to see why that would be the case. Polite […]
Trump and Sanders Vs. the Elites
By Jesse Sumpter On Tuesday, the Washington Post released an opinion piece titled, “It’s time to give the elites a bigger say in choosing the president.” There was an uproar on Twitter and the Post changed the title to “It’s time to switch to preference primaries.” The piece makes the case for preference voting at […]
Opting Out: Farage, Freedom, and Cheerful Defiance
By Rhett Burns At 11:00 p.m. local time January 31, Great Britain left the European Union. A few days prior, Nigel Farage, leader of the Brexit Party and member of the European Parliament, gave a short, but glorious farewell speech ahead of the parliament’s Brexit withdrawal agreement vote. I am not British and have no […]
Review 2019: Top 10 Blogazine Articles
Here are the ten most popular articles from the CrossPolitic Blogazine in 2019. These articles garnered a lot of attention this year and they highlight key aspects of the work at CrossPolitic. Enjoy the review of 2019! 10. The Future is Familial. This article traces the cultural trends toward being unmarried and how the family […]
Do Not Leave Your Friends in Battle: Chick-Fil-A and the Culture Wars
By Rhett Burns Chick-Fil-A announced this week it is restructuring the company’s charitable giving. Instead of donating to more than 300 organizations, the company will give to three partners focusing on three specific issues: education, homelessness, and hunger. Among those organizations no longer receiving funds from Chick-Fil-A is the Salvation Army and the Fellowship of […]
Pastor vs Superintendent: Transgenderism in the Local School
By Levi Secord How does a pastor who gave up on public education a long time ago, and who homeschools his children, end up in an intense meeting with the superintendent of the local school district? That’s a good question that requires a long answer. A couple of months ago, our neighbor who served on […]
True Believers, Marketers, and Evangelists
When I was a child, our church would gather late every summer with dozens of area churches for a large tent revival on the campus of the local Baptist college. In the sweltering August heat, we’d sing southern gospel hymns, listen to hellfire and brimstone preaching, and laugh at the corny puppet show put on […]
The Tribalism of the NeverTrump Evangelical Elite, Pt. 2
By Stephen Wolfe This is the second of a two part series. The first part is found here. Trust Paul Miller’s presentation of civic trust in his ERLC report is useful for exposing the tribalism of the evangelical elite. The report bizarrely prescribes distrust in order to remedy distrust—committing a sort of performative contradiction. At […]