The Democratic Party Has Grabbed Complete Control of the Political Narrative With Unprecedented Authenticity

There's no question this 2024 edition of the Democratic National Convention is vastly different than just about any previous political convention put on by either party.  It almost defies description in political terms.  I've been trying to put my finger on exactly what it is that has made this so different, which has, on several occasions over the past three nights, brought me to tears, and which has been, in every single moment, so vastly different than the Republican convention, built around the personality and campaign of Trump.  

And last night, I think I finally figured it out.  The word is "authentic."  

We are watching real people, who have had real struggles in their life and political careers, and who have had real success, earned by determination and hard work, put everything on display by showing us who they really are, not who they want us to think that they are.  It's on display everywhere.  

There's been an incredible amount of talk about setting aside those things that tend to divide us when it comes to loving and caring about our neighbors, more than I've ever heard or seen in all of the time I spent growing up in an Evangelical church, and these people aren't just talking about it and wearing it on their sleeve.  These people have the goods to back it up.  

The candidates who are at the top of this ticket came from where we came from.  They're not some image crafted by prosperity they didn't achieve on their own and by the politics of duplicity and dishonesty because the real politician isn't someone who can relate to his own constituents.  They lived life where most of us have lived it.  I worked in a fast food restaurant most of the time I was in college, because my parents were covering tuition that my scholarships didn't quite cover, and that paid my car expenses, insurance and helped me have some savings.  I grew up in a small town where the football season was the highlight of the year, and where I had several teachers, including "that one," who were role models and encouragers.  I became a high school social studies teacher.  

Who better to understand politics, American history, culture, geography and economics?  

This Has Been Real

The kind of enthusiasm that has come out of this convention cannot be faked.  I think there's good reason for this.  

When the news came, almost a week after election day in 2020, that Joe Biden had won, and had been elected President, and Trump was out, the country was so relieved, people emerged from homes and businesses, and started celebrating. I was sitting on a love seat in my living room, and I cried.  The nightmare was over.  I had no idea what we were about to be put through, as some of the most unpatriotic, un-American activity we've ever seen was yet to be experienced, and when that ended with Joe Biden's inauguration, I cried again.  

The debate ramped up anxiety once again.  And raising the possibility that this orange scourge could wind up in the White House again, this time with a vengeance, prepared to overturn the Constitution and create a dictatorship, was the darkness, as Pete Buttigieg labelled it, that hung over the United States as the election approached.  

So what we're seeing in the Democratic National Convention, is genuine relief.  That's not to be critical to President Biden, who had the power to make this decision in his hands, and who did the right thing.  So did all the Democrats whose names were mentioned as possibilities for a brokered convention by simply agreeing with Biden's endorsement and stepping out, not to campaign for themselves or complain about the way it was done, but in support of Harris.  The unity we are seeing can't be faked.  The Republicans, by contrast, don't have it, tried to fake it at their convention and it didn't work.  

And along with having a candidate for President who is a person of character and conviction, who worked her way up to the success that she set for herself as a goal, and a candidate for Vice-President who is able to relate to just about every other American in this country, and who is what my parents would have called, "down to earth," we have a platform that has been crafted to make government work to meet the needs of the people.  

Motivation

There have been so many moments during this convention, which I have watched from my love seat in the living room though I would have loved to have been there in the building, which I pass almost every day on the way to work, that have brought me to tears, that have given me hope, and that have been joyous, as one of the most frequently used words this week have characterized.  I'm as working class as they come, with a small savings account, no pension, and dependent on social security for support when I retire.  I've lived paycheck to paycheck most of my life.  I've never asked for a hand out from the government, and have reluctantly taken the hand up as I get older and I need it.  

I'm not 100% aligned with every single position taken by this party.  And on some of the things on which I am aligned, I have my own idea regarding how to go about implementing them.  That's politics.  What I'm on board with is the direction they are going and how that will help make our constitutional democracy more secure and less susceptible to overthrow.  And I am on board with the candidates they have selected for office.  

I had thought, especially during all the chaos that was happening following the debate, that it might have been a better idea for the President to have made this decision a year ago, so that the party had time to go through a contested primary and come up with a candidate, but I don't think so now.  I think the President did the right thing, when he finally became convinced that things might not go as well as hoped, and avoided the chaos of a brokered convention by endorsing Harris.  And she could not have made a better pick for the VP candidacy than Tim Walz.  

I'm motivated not only to vote for this ticket, but to work for it and help it get elected.  I have the ability to serve in a battleground state close to home and I'm going to do it.  And I'm a pretty ordinary American if you look at who I am.  If I'm this motivated, a lot of other Americans might be motivated as well.  I believe we are going to win, and we're going to get control of both houses, and the big fight will be pushing to make people do their job and certify the votes.  

Centered on American Values

Loving your neighbor, taking the side of the disadvantaged and downtrodden, living life with and making joy contagious, are core values.  I would say to my Evangelical friends that it should be an embarrassment to them for these things to be so visible in the convention of a political party that most of them condemn because some of their positions support everyone's rights, and so invisible in their churches, and in the political party they claim is going to "make America great again."  

Pete Buttigieg said that the word which best describes what the other party is promoting is "darkness."  He's right.  That's visible from simple observation of virtually every word and phrase that comes out of their two candidates mouth.  Their response, especially to the events of this week, is not to come back on the issues, but to be critical, call names, express rage and get upset that no one is crowding into their rallies, or stuffing their bank accounts.  

I'd add the description, "morally bankrupt."  The criticisms of Gus Walz on social media, after his teary-eyed tribute to his Dad on the podium is evidence of the fact that these people do not have a shred of decency, morality or humanity.  Like Trump's well-publicized mockery of a disabled reporter during his first campaign, this is inexcusable, cruel and is a sign that these people should not be entrusted with any leadership anywhere in this country.  I don't care what the issues are, this is inexcusable, wrong and disqualifying to Trump.  

Good luck with that.  

It may be too much in the way of sounding like a cliche, but I think the Democrats seem to be working toward making America decent again.  And they've taken a big step forward in making America joyful again. 

Maybe Charlie Kirk Came to Learn Something About Joy, or Unity

Seeing that Charlie Kirk showed up at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago started me thinking about why it is that conservative Evangelical Christians are attracted to Republican politics and are either unwilling, or unable to see the almost complete incongruity between the Christian gospel found in the New Testament, and the Trump Republican Party.  When I prioritize my own personal convictions, and I determine to follow the words of Jesus, who said that the greatest commandment given by God is to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind," and points out that the second greatest commandment is actually connected to that one, and that "loving your neighbor as yourself" is actually the means by which adherence to the first commandment is demonstrated, then I can only conclude that political extremism trumps [pardon the pub] the Christian gospel for people like Kirk. 

Kirk, by the way, is the founder of Turning Point USA, a political auxiliary to the Republican party, more specifically to the Trump branch of the Republican party, aimed at brainwashing younger voters in the MAGA agenda and attempting to get them activated to vote on that side of the political divide.  It depends heavily on politically engaged Evangelicals and has "re-establishing the church in the public square" as one of its aims. 

It was actually Don Jr., speaking at one of these rallies in Phoenix, who made the claim that the teachings of Jesus were no longer relevant to the place of the church in the world, claiming that the practice of his teaching to "turn the other cheek," specifically, was what was keeping the church from having influence in the public square.  That's a novel approach to Christian faith, I admit, along with considering the teachings of Jesus as being "woke" talking points.  

Maybe Charlie Kirk Can Learn Real Values from Being at the DNC

Maybe that's why Kirk decided to come to Chicago.  Aside from the chance to experience one of the greatest cities in America, he can learn something about the values he claims to want his political auxiliary to have.  In just two evening sessions of the Democratic National Convention, it has become very clear that those biblical, Christian gospel values that his group has determined are no longer relevant are found at the very core of everything the Democrats are doing.  

Democrats seem to be getting a much more favorable response to their approach than Kirk, Trump and the decimated GOP are getting.  He's certainly had plenty of opportunity to hear about real, down to earth values and how the Democratic party has implemented them and wants to continue.  The RNC was full of criticism, name calling, false accusations, outright lies, and a boring train of speakers all trying to do Donald Trump imitations, and failing at it.  In one night of the DNC, I heard the word "joy" or a form of it mentioned a dozen times, along with hope, peace, humility and unity.

He had the opportunity to learn all about the meaning of "love your neighbor as yourself" from several speakers, including the Reverend Rafael Warnock, also a United States Senator, who transitioned from political speech into Baptist preacher sermon before he finished.  We heard multiple examples of that virtue being put into practice as President Biden went down the list of his achievements and accomplishments in office, virtually every one of them based on considering the good outcome for one's neighbors.  And even though they've been out of office for eight years, now, the Obamas are still lazer focused on their message of hope and they have the goods to back it up.  

I saw a video clip of a conversation Kirk had with a young delegate from Georgia, who got the typical deflection one gets when discussing Trump's corrupt attempt to steal elections and empower fake electors, a deflection.  Kirk asked him, "What's a woman?"  The delegate responded, while walking off in frustration, "Why don't you meet one and find out."  

I'd have been more subtle.  

"A woman is a human being, created by God, who, in this room and in this party, unlike yours, is respected as an equal, empowered by her intellect and her creativity, balanced by her emotional strength and stability, capable and qualified to serve in the most powerful office in the world."  

I hope Charlie Kirk has some kind of epiphany while enjoying all that this great city has to offer.  Obviously, he spent his own money and showed up here because he is looking to fill in some big holes in values he currently does not understand or does not possess.  If he stays for the next couple of days, he's going to hear an awful lot about joy, about making peace, about loving his neighbor and using what he's been given to make a difference for everyone.  Above all, he's going to be in a place that was completely transformed by one of the most selfless acts demonstrating true patriotism and a love for one's country that we have ever seen from a President of the United States.  

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Talk is easy and cheap.  I can hear those words coming out of both my mother and father's mouth when they were disappointed with a choice I made and wanted to provide some correction so I wouldn't repeat the mistake.  I always appreciated that.  It made a difference in my life. 

Think for a minute, in the speeches that have been made over the past couple of nights at the Democratic convention.  It's not difficult to discern what values are being practiced.  And frankly, there aren't any political cliches or stereotypes of politicians that accurately describe what is going on.  I grew up in an Evangelical Christian denomination and church, a fairly conservative one, and while the cultural insertion of biases and prejudices of the membership were part of the whole picture, I did listen.  

Jesus himself opens up his preaching with a description of a set of virtues known as the "beatitudes," which included characteristics he insisted were part of what he preached.  Being poor in spirit, or humble; mourning, or contrasting the world's idea of happiness with true happiness; the meek, who were humble and strong; those who hunger and thirst after righteousness; mercy; pure in heart; peacemakers and those persecuted because of righteousness are all marks of, or evidence of true Christian faith.  

In his epistle to the Galatians,  Paul lays down characteristics of Christian practice he called the "fruit" or product of the spirit.  They include love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  He added, "There is no law against these things."  

In spite of the fact that Evangelical Christians are Trump's largest, and most loyal, constituency, I have to make this observation.  I see none of those virtues and values, at the heart of the Christian gospel, exhibited by his followers.  And I don't see a single one of these ever exhibited by Trump.  

Maybe, by coming to Chicago and showing up at the DNC, Charlie Kirk can see the truth, and it will set him free.         

One of the Greatest Presidents of My Lifetime

Joe Biden Will Go Down in History With the Greatest Presidents of All Time

The moments and events which turn good Presidents into great Presidents are rare.  There are circumstances which present themselves and which require good leaders rising to the occasion to provide decisive leadership that aims at preserving the individual freedoms provided by our constitutional democracy.  Lincoln saved the union by his leadership of the country during the Civil War.  Franklin Delano Roosevelt provided leadership through a social and economic reform that saved the country from its worst economic depression and then, from the worst threat to its sovereignty following the Pearl Harbor attack, during the Second World War.  

Sometimes, it is not until after something happens that history recognizes the leaders who were responsible for the accomplishment, and when their leadership becomes recognized as significant and successful in a historic moment.  John Quincy Adams, who happens to be my personal favorite, was elected as the result of the first and only "contingent" election in American history, and, in spite of his vision for the use of America's vast resources in developing the country's infrastructure, which, while it didn't occur during his term in office, happened immediately afterward.  Adams was also visionary with regard to his social agenda, especially his views on race, which were quite advanced for his time. 

But the recognition that President Joe Biden deserves started with the reception he received last night at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.  An ovation of appreciation, lasting over four minutes, punctuated with chants of "Thank you Joe," from a crowd jammed into the United Center, got it started.  Then, what we heard from the President over the next 45 minutes was a list of his achievements and accomplishments as President.  It was a long list, almost everything he set out to do while serving as President.  And everything he did was something which benefitted the people of the United States in some way.  Everything.  

What makes it remarkable, and which will elevate him to the status of one of our greatest Presidents will be the circumstances occurring at the time he was elected to office.  He came to power in the middle of a viral pandemic that was serious enough to take the lives of over a million Americans.  Beyond that, it was devastating the economy, shuttering schools and businesses, cutting off supply lines, stretching the resources and capacities of health care systems across the country, affecting everyone and everything.  Up to his inauguration, almost nothing had been done by his predecessor, who intended to ignore the crisis and let it run its course.  

He proclaimed it as a "hoax."  

An Honorable Career in Politics as a Public Servant

There is absolutely nothing wrong with pursuing a career in public service.  As an educator myself, I clearly understand the sacrifice of working in a career field which supports and undergirds just about every other aspect of our society, including its business and industry.  Without a productive, effective system of education, those things would not exist.  Nor would they be able to prosper and thrive without effective government leadership, in our case, in a constitutional democracy, providing infrastructure, security, and an effective labor force.  

Those who are critical of politicians like Joe Biden, who spent 50 years in politics, are showing their ignorance and don't know what they are talking about.  President Biden has made government work on behalf of its people.  He has a 50 year record of doing so.  There are few people in politics today who can say that, or who have done it as well as Joe Biden.  In the time he has served in the Senate and in the Executive Branch, he has learned how to make government work on behalf of the people.  And he's succeeded at it.  

It took fifty minutes last night for him to outline and address the success he has had as President during one term in office, much of that happening prior to the Republican house disarray that has occurred under the incompetence of the two Speakers they've selected since they  discovered they cannot govern.  All of that, and what it has been aimed at achieving for the people, has been the result of his experience and effectiveness as a politician.  And it made him a good President, an excellent President in comparison to all of those who have served since Franklin D. Roosevelt.  

What Makes Him Great

Everything he did as President during this term not only earned for him the right to run again as his party's nominee, it earned him the right to be re-elected.  He did everything he promised he would do.  We've recovered from COVID in much better shape than many other places in the world because of his leadership of the country and the use of its resources.  

Considering who and what he is running against, I remain unconvinced that he would have lost this election to Trump.  Seeing how things are going on the other side, knowing all of the baggage that travels with that candidate, I think Biden would have pulled out a victory in spite of his age and what appeared to be a lack of enthusiasm surrounding his campaign.  His opponent is sinking his own boat and doesn't know it.  

It was his decision to make.  And unlike his opponent, who thinks of himself as everyone else's savior and being the only one who can fix anything, this President listens to and takes advice.  This was a huge decision.  He had earned the nomination with his record, and deserved a second term.  But he was more committed to what was best for the country, and he's known, for a while now, that his age would be an issue if he chose to run again.  He put the country first, and removed what he was convinced was the biggest obstacle to his own re-election.  

It's only been the greatest of our leaders who have ever demonstrated that kind of self sacrifice.  

Joe Biden is a politician who has always claimed to have the best interests of the people in mind as the motivation for his public service.  And so he has.  

The Democratic Party has been blessed with Presidents who are talented, gifted leaders.  There is no one I can think of who has served since FDR who was not an excellent leader and a good President.  So it is not surprising that one of our veteran public servants, who did not get to sit behind the Resolute Desk until late in his political career, has turned out to be the greatest President of my lifetime.

Thank you, Joe!  

Not All White Evangelical Christians Are Trump Supporters or Republicans

Billy Graham's Granddaughter Joins "Evangelicals for Harris"

It's become a matter of course for white, Evangelical Christians in the United States to equate being Evangelical with being Republican.  I first heard that rhetoric in college, just before the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan.  Prior to that election cycle, most white Evangelicals were already Republican, largely because of their anti-abortion position, and because white, Evangelical Christian churches were one of the last bastions of bigotry and segregation in the country, something that existed just below the surface of Republican politics.  

President Jimmy Carter was in the White House at the time.  Carter never wore his Evangelical faith on his sleeve, or used it as a club to beat people over the head and demand that they listen to him, and he had such respect for the constitutional guarantee of a free conscience that set the church free to follow its conscience that he would not use his own Christian beliefs as a way to coerce others into sharing the same opinion.  And that meant that he would not take any steps to appoint judges to overturn the Roe versus Wade decision. His greatest foreign policy decision was to negotiate the Camp David Accords, between Israel and Egypt, ending decades of war between the two countries.  That angered some of the big shots who were self-proclaimed leaders among conservative Evangelicals.  

So, as the election approached in 1980, several of these leaders, most notably Jerry Falwell, pastor of the giant Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia and weekly television preacher for "The Old Time Gospel Hour," and a Baptist evangelist by the name of James Robison, who preached revivals in Baptist churches, decided to see if they couldn't push the number of voting Evangelicals up to new heights while at the same time using their influence to endorse Ronald Reagan.  

Personally, I believe this was the tipping point, when Evangelicals, who claimed that American society was becoming increasingly secular, as "blue laws" vanished, Sunday became another day on the calendar to enjoy the weekend, and the country was "straying away from God, toward his wrathful judgment," decided to turn to secular politics to enforce their social agenda. I heard that from the pulpit of the church in which I grew up, more than once.  Unable to admit that it might be their own way of doing things, and their own approach to Christian faith that communicated a lack of relevance in people's lives, they decided to wage the culture war in the political arena.  

So they endorsed a completely secular, unchurched, non-Christian follower of the New Age movement, a former "B" actor from the Hollywood film industry, the institution on which they placed the most blame for America's drift away from God and into secular humanism, over a lifelong, "born again," Georgia Southern Baptist who was, out of all of those who had served in the White House up to that time, the most sincere, faithful, openly practicing Christian since the constitution was ratified.  

And it has gone downhill from there.  

Christianity Has Been Hijacked by Right Wing Trump Extremism  

There is no doubt about it, conservative, Evangelical Christianity in America has been hijacked by right wing extremist politics.  What made Falwell and Robison, along with Pat Robertson, a televangelist whose program, The 700 Club, mimicked television news, angry at President Carter and pushed them to the GOP was his perspective on abortion rights.  They wanted all Christians to accept their interpretation and ideology when it came to this specific social issue.  

Former President Jimmy Carter provides perhaps the single best example of an Evangelical Christian who served in the White House who was able not only to balance differences between his personal convictions and a political perspective that recognized the rights of all citizens, but which advocated and promoted Christian values in issues such as racial discrimination, women's rights and social justice reforms that are consistent with the core values of the Christian gospel preached and taught by Jesus and his apostles. 

Carter was personally opposed to any kind of abortion, for any reason, but he did not oppose it politically, because he saw that a majority of Americans did not hold the belief that life began at conception, that it was a religious belief entirely, and even though it was not something he would approve or advise, Americans who did not hold similar religious beliefs had the right to access something they themselves did not see as wrong for the culture and nation.  

It is, in fact, a religious liberty issue as the concepts and beliefs which have led to a determination that life begins at conception are of an exclusively religious perspective, and when applied as restrictions on abortion rights, constitutes an "establishment" of religion, which is unconstitutional.  Evangelicals, however, are not inclined to consider the rights of non-Christians in a constitutional democracy as equal, or of Christians who hold a different perspective, and for whom a candidate's position on abortion is not the only qualification for their vote.    

The intrusion of right wing politics into Evangelical churches and denomination has brought about a revival of the ideology of Christian nationalism, which started radicalizing conservative Christians back in the 1980's, and which now has become the predominant political perspective of a majority of conservative, Evangelical Christians.  Trump has simply turned the art of trading political favors to Christian nationalists as a matter of political course.  And in exchange for their votes, they have been quite willing to give up not only their core theological and doctrinal beliefs and practices, but their integrity and their morality, on which the credibility of their faith is built.  

When the principles and values of the Christian gospel, drawn from the biblical text, are laid out and promoted, most conservative Christians dismiss them as "liberal talking points."  Gone are the claims from conservative Evangelical leaders that "character matters most" when choosing who to vote for as a Christian in a constitutional democracy.  Those standards were reserved only for Bill Clinton when he was running for President and when adultery, or the hint of adultery, and lying to cover it up, were virtually unforgiveable sins as far as right wing conservative Christians were concerned.  They have become hypocrites in not applying those same standards to Trump, who has made a point of denying anything resembling a conversion experience to Christianity, insisting he has done nothing for which he must ask God's forgiveness.  

They have also become hypocrites in their complete abandonment of the core values of the Christian gospel in order to gain political power by riding on Trump's coattails.  Doctrine and the interpretation of the Bible has changed to accommodate the justification of behavior and activity that is decidedly un-Christian and un-patriotic on the part of Trump-supporting Evangelicals.  

There is a Biblical Warning About Such Political Intrusions Into the Church

Jude, who was one of Jesus' twelve apostles, and who was very likely the son of Joseph and Mary, making him a half-brother of Jesus, wrote an epistle to the church about the danger of philosophical intrusions into the Christian community of the church that had the potential to change their doctrine and alter their practice in a way that led to apostasy.  Jude's words are not a direct prophecy referring to what is happening to conservative Evangelicals who have embraced the heresy of Trumpism, but they are definitely a prophetic warning and an accurate description of what is now occurring among American conservative Evangelical churches. 

"For certain intruders have stolen in among you, he writes, "people who long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly, who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ."  [Jude v. 4] 

We've seen this perversion, not only in Evangelical leadership ignoring Trump's immoral lifestyle, his perpetual, pathological lying, and his open denial of the Christian conversion experience in favor of his own view of who God is, but in the fact that many Christians have made Trump into an idol of their worship, according characteristics to him that he doesn't exhibit, and making him the object of their loyalty in a false and deceptive way.  Trumpism has also brought about a definite perversion of the Christian gospel, openly proclaiming that principles which Jesus taught as the core beliefs of the Christian faith, such as turning the other cheek, "have gotten us nowhere," according to one of his surrogates, Donald Trump Jr., at a Turning Point rally in Arizona last spring.  

Jesus never intended for the church to be supported by a political state, in which all of the leaders adhered to the Christian gospel and conversion was required for citizenship.  Much of the history of the Christian church, from about 300 A.D. right up to the American Revolution, is of the repeated failed attempts of the church to establish itself in the same way that ancient Israel did in the Old Testament, as a covenant theocracy.  Not only is there not one jot or tittle of scripture to support this idea, but we have more than ten centuries of brutal bloodshed and war that testify to the fact it was the wrong thing to do.  

So it is quite encouraging to see groups forming, like "Evangelicals for Harris."  It is a demonstration of true democracy, and it shows that it is possible for people to disagree on some social issues, and on some interpretations of the Bible, and still give reasonable discernment to their choice of a candidate for office.  Personally, I find it easier to support a candidate like Harris, who is working to protect rights that are in danger, and boost the economic prosperity of Americans, than Trump, whose main talking point involves giving tax breaks to billionaires, and who keeps lying about the 2020 election he lost, and who, by his own bad choices and foolish behavior, has managed to be indicted for over 80 felonies and convicted, so far, of 34.  

It's hard for me to see how someone who understands, and practices, the values of the Christian gospel, could ever support, and vote, for someone like Donald Trump, or J. D. Vance.

Dear Pastor: I'm Very Sorry to Hear You're Voting for Trump

After seeing a former pastor make a social media post of the reasons he was supporting Trump, which included an attempt to make Trump's immorality and worldliness irrelevant to his decision, I decided to respond.  This is the kind of thing that is happening all through conservative, Evangelical churches in this country, and is the most relevant explanation for the membership and attendance loss they have experienced since 2016.  

Dear Pastor,

I saw your social media post, the one where you listed the reasons you were voting for Trump.  I was extremely disappointed that you chose to put your political opinion over your credibility as a pastor and preacher, and endorse a candidate, any candidate, for office.  I recall that in previous elections, you told your congregation that the church was not a "political action committee" and that it was important to put the preaching of the gospel in a place where secular politics of much lesser importance would not distract from its message or interfere with its proclamation.  

The fact that your position has changed in order to support this particular Presidential candidate is especially disappointing.  By choosing sides, you have now placed yourself in opposition to those members of your congregation who, by their own choice and conviction, have chosen not to support Trump and you have challenged their spiritual convictions and the prayerful consideration with which they came to their decision.  You hold a position of spiritual leadership in this congregation, entrusted to you by all of its members, not just those who are Republicans or who support one specific candidate.  There is no authority given to you, either by the congregation or in the scripture, which permits you to make this kind of judgment.  

Clearly, you have not considered the many reasons, including reasons rooted in the truth of the scripture which you claim to believe, and preach every week, those of us who are not voting for Trump have considered and from which we have drawn our own conclusions.  And you have assumed that those in the church who aren't supporting Trump can be easily persuaded to do so, since that would be, as you hinted at, the "Christian" thing to do.  

Personally, though you never asked, but chose to put yours out on social media, here are my reasons for not supporting or voting for Trump.  

• I cannot, in good conscience, seasoned by my years of being Christian, and of being instructed in the principles of the Christian gospel in church, trust or support a politician in the leadership of our country who has openly cheated on three different wives with multiple women, who put them publicly through that shame, using the media to justify his reasons for having affairs with other women, and who subsequently married the "other" women with whom he committed adultery.  The most recent humiliation of his current wife, during her pregnancy and the infancy of their son, with a porn star, makes it clear that this man doesn't have a shred of respect for the truth.  He's not qualified for any public office. 
• As the Christian gospel makes clear, experiencing conviction for our sin, desiring forgiveness, repentance, and placing trust in Jesus' sacrifice for our sin is the Christian gospel's path to restoration and reconciliation with God.  But this man openly denies that he needs to ask God for forgiveness for anything, and the god he proclaims to believe in is more like a Santa Claus in the sky, bestowing financial prosperity on those who claim it.  So I take it that you no longer condemn the prosperity gospel cult that loves and worships money, since you are supporting someone for President who believes in it and claims a prosperity gospel prophetess as his "spiritual leader"?  
• I understand that Trump has been a useful tool in achieving the political goals of overturning the Roe v. Wade decision, though his conviction on abortion, which is to let states decide whether they want it or not, is not consistent at all with your desire to see it banned across the country, or with your belief that it is evil. That's kind of hypocritical, as is the fact that I've never seen this church actually reach out to anyone in the kind of circumstances and situations that tend to be the cause of most abortions.  We've had several members of our own church find themselves in difficulties as a result of an unexpected pregnancy and the response has been to condemn their mistake and sit in judgment over their sexual immorality, resulting in their feeling pushed out the door by the people they depended on to love them the most.  And that, to me, nullifies our attempts at using political influence to achieve something that we possess the spiritual power to achieve.  Or so you've preached from the pulpit.  
• I was around, and I was observant during Trump's first term in office.  Regardless of the issues and the sides that are taken by different political parties, Americans have to be able to trust the words of their President.  Our national security depends on it.  The ability of the government to serve its people depend on it.  Trump is a proven, pathological liar.  He has manipulated and used the power of his office for his own personal benefit, and that of his close families and the financial interests of the billionaires who are finally his friends, and he has lied over and over again to protect his ability to use this power.  
• I cannot vote to support anyone running for office who does not respect the constitution and understand the limits it places on government power.  Trump incited an insurrection, based on the lie that the election was "stolen" from him, and attempted to solicit support from his followers to violently overthrow the government and put himself in the executive office.  Such a rebellion, without a legitimate cause, goes against the words of two of the great, early church Apostles, Peter and Paul, recorded in I Peter 2:13-17 and Romans 13:1-7.  
• I cannot support a candidate for public office who has turned his entire campaign into an act of denigration of political opponents who simply disagree with his politics.  The Bible says that fresh water and salt water cannot come from the same spring, and the personal denigration, name calling, accusations and character assassination that is a much bigger part of Trump's campaign than anything he has to say about the issues is the sign of an unrepentant, worldly heart, and a mark of his complete inability to be an effective leader.  It's also an indicator of his character, or should I say, lack of it. 
• I cannot support a candidate who is a convicted felon, tried by a jury of his peers based on the evidence.  It is not possible to claim to believe in "law and order" and then fail to accept the outcome of a fair trial or the consequences of the crimes that were committed.   

Hatred and bigotry radiate from Trump's campaign.  Don Trump Jr. made the point, at a Turning Point rally in Phoenix last year, that Jesus' teaching on turning the other cheek wasn't getting them anywhere in this world.  That statement was made to cheers of a crowd gathered for the rally inside an Assembly of God church auditorium.  Russell Moore, the editor of Christianity Today, reports that members of churches are coming up to pastors, after they've preached on the Sermon on the Mount, asking them, "Where did you get those liberal talking points?"  There's plenty of evidence that Trump and his political, right wing MAGA base have infiltrated the church and are quickly replacing the Christian gospel with one of their own that uses hatred, bigotry and even violence to get its way.  

The Apostle Jude provides us with a prophetic warning about those who will intrude into the church, bearing falsehood and licentiousness.  He says these intruders "walk in the way of Cain and abandon themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error, and perish in Korah's rebellion."  He calls them "hidden reefs at your love fests, waterless clouds swept along by the winds, fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever."

I know you are familiar with the epistle of First John.  I'm not a Christian nationalist, and I don't believe, as a Christian who has been given the responsibility of voting to choose the leadership of a constitutional democracy, that the leaders I choose must walk in lock step conformity with my religious beliefs and values, or my personal convictions, in order to earn my vote.  But I will not, in good conscience, vote for anyone who trashes my religious beliefs or my values by elevating himself to some kind of godhood in order to excuse inexcusable behavior. 

Trump has openly proclaimed that he has not done anything in his life for which he must ask God's forgiveness.  He has stated that he has his own perception of who god is.  As far as I am concerned, he's as free to make that kind of declaration as I am to deny it.  But, as you well know, that statement is a denial of the Christian gospel, a blasphemy of the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and a denial of Christ's messiahship.  I John 1:1-3 addresses this, and assigns a title to the one who does it.  You know exactly what that is.  

Pastors can have their own political opinions, and can vote for whomever they choose, as do you.  But in their stewardship responsibility of the local church, they are also responsible to guard their congregation from intruders, as the Apostle Jude warned in his epistle.  It is false teaching to claim that one partisan political party's perspective is "Christian."  And this particular individual is clearly, in every way, a pagan intruder into a church which he has used for his own purposes and to which he has introduced a gospel that has replaced the Christian gospel.  You could support whomever you choose and still maintain the integrity of the office by keeping those views to yourself, separate from your ministry stewardship, but you chose to open the door to this licentious intrusion into the church [see Jude v.4] by publicly displaying your political preferences.  

You have ignored the warning of the Apostle and failed to protect this church from this intrusion of "licentiousness," in the form of extremism in right wing politics. You've given in to the temptation to use your influence and position as a pastor to support a secular politician who does not reflect its values or respect it for what it is, in exchange for the political power he provides on a few issues of interest to you.

I was an active, supportive, serving member of your congregation for eight years.  I submitted to your leadership, was encouraged and motivated by your preaching, respected your theological and doctrinal interpretations of the Bible and supported your ministry.  This social media post has undermined all of that.  Had you kept your political opinion to yourself, along with the freedom to vote for whomever you choose, as a matter of good stewardship of your pastorate of the church, nothing would have changed.  Your political perspective is irrelevant to your ministry, so your revelation of it via a public social media platform has prioritized it over your ministry, and undermined your credibility, and my trust of pastors.  

Biden Administration Invests Heavily in Reopening Rural Hospital Deep in West Virginia Coal Country

Thanks to the Biden Administration's $2 million in Federal Funding, Williamson Gets Its Hospital Opened Again

The Williamson Memorial Hospital, in the small, coal-mining community of Williamson, West Virginia, which is the seat of Mingo County, closed its doors in April of 2020.  The closure left the rural, mountainous county, with a population of 24,000, without a hospital or emergency room.  There is one across the Tug River, in Kentucky, at the Appalachian Regional Hospital, but there are complications with crossing a state line when it comes to insurance, especially medicaid benefits and the closure of the hospital on the West Virginia side has led to overcrowding at Appalachian Regional's emergency room. 

And Mingo County is not a place where everyone has transportation.  With the nearest ER in West Virginia 30 miles, and 45 minutes away, in Logan County, the closure of Williamson's hospital created major hardships.  

However, thanks to one of the local physicians, Dr. Dino Beckett, and the Biden Administration, the effort to re-open Williamson Memorial Hospital received a $2 million boost in federal funding.  According to the Mountain Citizen, the hospital is in the process of re-opening in phases, starting with internal medicine and podiatry, which opened in 2023. Radiology, the ER, ancillary departments and then 18 patient rooms on the surgical floor will follow in the summer of 2024.  The openings will take place over the course of the rest of the year, with the goal of having it fully operational by the end of the year.  

Even though the facility had been a hospital prior to its closure in April of 2022, it took $16 million invested in it by the Williamson Health and Wellness Center practice of Dr. Dino Beckett, along with multiple sources of financing, to renovate the facility, purchase equipment and get it going again.  This includes the $2 million kicked in by the Biden Administration.  

Rural Hospitals are Vital to American Healthcare and Keeping Them Open Should be a Priority

As a result of its location, and the local economy, the majority of the people served by a rural hospital like this one are also dependent on some kind of federal assistance to provide their medical care.  A high percentage of the population in this rural, coal mining region are now dependent on medicaid, or on insurance secured through the Affordable Care Act.  A Trump presidency would endanger their ability to pay for any medical care they receive and could endanger the operation of the hospital once again.  

Most people take their local hospital for granted.  Now, people in this rural West Virginia county know what it is like to be without one, and they also know what it takes to put one back together and keep it operational.  The question is whether this issue is important enough to them to look at their politics and see if making sure a presidential administration that cares about their health care, and their community, enough to invest in it, is worth keeping in the White House.  

I wouldn't bet on that.  

The Inability of Southern Baptists to Resolve Clergy Sexual Abuse Scandal Costs Them Credibility and Damages Their Image

Baptist News Global: SBC Leaders Offer Little Hope for Resolving Sexual Abuse Crisis

The Southern Baptist Convention claims the title as the "Largest Evangelical Denomination in the United States," and sometimes the "Largest Protestant Denomination in the United States," though many of their members and pastors prefer to be known more as conservative, evangelical and fundamentalist than as Protestants.  Founded in Augusta, Georgia in 1845 as a result of the Triennial Baptist Convention's condemnation of slavery, Southern Baptists original mission and purpose was to unite Baptist churches for the purpose of evangelistic, missionary activity, and to protect the ambitions of slaveowners who wanted to be missionaries from the restrictions of the Triennial Baptist Convention. 

While the denomination currently has affiliated churches and members in all 50 states, the vast majority of churches and members can be found in the 11 states of the old Confederacy, along with Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma and California.  Though there is no ecclesiastical hierarchy in the denomination, organized around practical cooperation in sending evangelistic missionaries and providing theological education, there is very much a leadership oligarchy made up of prominent pastors, mostly of megachurches, or who have a major presence in the conservative religious media, who call the shots and who are the kingmakers when it comes to denominational leadership.  

There is very much a power structure involved, which benefits those privileged, prominent leaders who have worked their way into the elite, inner circle of denominational leadership.  It is organized, not around helping the missionary enterprise succeed, but in wielding the power it has as the largest Evangelical denomination for maximum political influence and for driving specific agendas favored by its elite leaders.  

Though each of its 45,000 local congregations are independent and autonomous in matters of theological doctrine and church polity, denominational leaders can use the pressure of their prestige and influence to force churches to accept certain doctrinal parameters that they believe are necessary for correct identification as a Southern Baptist church.  And when it is convenient for these same prestigious leaders, they can hide behind local church independence and autonomy to avoid taking the blame for their mistakes which have led to a crisis.  

While it is a very numbers-focused denomination, claiming 12.8 million members, the actual attendance across the denomination each week, people who show up for worship services, averages just over 4 million, and collectively, perhaps as many as 5 million of the total will actually attend a worship service once in a year's time.  So there are 7.8 million "non-resident" members, who are names on a roll of people who once joined an affiliated church, but no longer attend.  And since 2006, the membership and attendance have been in a steepening, deepening decline.  The denomination reached its peak membership in 2006, at 16.2 million members.  Since then it has lost 3.4 million members, and about 1.5 million in attendance, or 20% of the total.  Most of that, 2.8 million, has occurred since 2016.

Revelations of Long-Term Sexual Abuse by Southern Baptist Clergy Hit the News Cycle in 2019  

These losses are indications of broader problems within the denomination that are the results of conflict between the big egos in its leadership oligarchy.  The tanking membership and attendance, which of course has also resulted in financial hardship, is a big stress for leadership in which there's no clear structure to assign the blame or fix the problem.  Many churches are finding that adherence to strict Baptist theology and polity are not helpful in producing evangelistic results that are part of church growth, and are being criticized as "woke," or "liberal" in their progressive outlook.  There has been a sharp divide between prominent leaders who are "never Trumpers" and those who have sold their soul to him.  And jumping right into the mix, prior to their 2019 annual meeting in Birmingham, Alabama, was a clergy sexual abuse scandal that hit the pages of the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express News.  

The investigation into the abuse being committed by Southern Baptist pastors and church leaders was prompted by continued frustration of the victims of the abuse to get the denominational leadership to even address the problem.  While sexual abuse, mostly of women and girls, had been occurring for decades, and had been reported to denominational officials at the state convention and national convention level, very little had been done to even acknowledge or address the problem.  Victims who reported their abuse to denominational officials were told that the denomination had no authority over local churches, and did not have the ability to address the issue since it was a local church matter.  

The investigation by the Chronicle and Express-News did not cover the full scope of the crisis, only focusing on specific cases which had already been adjudicated, and which pointed to the extent of the problem within the denomination.  The independence and autonomy of local churches, and the failure of the denominational leadership to get involved, led to sexual abusive pastors and vocational ministers being able to move on to a different church when they had been caught or accused.  Some abusers had served three or four different churches as pastor before being caught.  

The investigation broke just before the 2019 annual meeting of the denomination, to be held in Birmingham, Alabama.  Those who gathered at the convention as representatives of the churches, known as "messengers", were horrified at the news that this was going on in their own denomination, and in a rare demonstration of the use of the power they possess, overwhelmingly voted to commission an investigation into the scope of sexual abuse in the SBC outside of the supervision or oversight of its executive committee, to avoid the prestigious power brokers from having the ability to control the investigation or manipulate the findings.  

What they got was a major shock. 

The size and scope of abuse was far greater than what was reported in the investigation.  As it turned out, those who were involved went right up to the very highest levels of the denomination itself, including members of the executive committee, pastors and church leaders who were in the inner circle of prominent, powerful elite leaders, both of the mission boards, and several of the seminaries, and it was revealed that reports of sexual abuse being made to denominational leadership had been covered up, hidden from view for decades, using "local church autonomy" as an excuse.  

Almost immediately, the apologists and protectors of the system of prominent, elite leadership in the denomination began gearing up to defend their incompetence, and cover up their gross negligence, as well as downplay the insincerity, and indeed, the complete and total lack of genuine Christian spirituality that accompanied their response to an investigation deliberately kept out of the hands of executive committee control to prevent just such a cover-up from happening. 

The Inability to Resolve This Scandal is a Monumental Denominational Crisis With Disastrous Implications

The investigation, demanded by majority vote of the messengers to the convention, was conducted by Guidepost Solutions, an independent agency with no ties to the SBC's executive committee or to the denominational leadership.  The defenders of the SBC status quo found all kinds of reasons not to consider the factual information they provided, which uncovered inconceivable incompetence, procrastination and deliberate misinformation, completely incongruent with the standards of and expectations of leadership in a conservative Christian denomination.  

There were attempts to discredit the Guidepost investigating firm, because of its neutral stance when it comes to defending persons of LGBTQ orientation.  Guidepost does not discriminate, something Southern Baptist leaders tried to use against them to derail progress.  There was all kinds of hollering, weeping and wailing over legal issues, including waiver of privilege required by the members of the executive committee.  It seemed that the biggest question was not, "What in the world are we doing to provide meaningful ministry to the thousands of victims in our churches?" but "How are we going to protect ourselves from lawsuits?"  Such thinking is the mentality that is part of the reason the SBC can't resolve this.  

They don't want to resolve it.  They want to hide it, bury it and make it go away.  And that's because several of the inner circle elites happen to have been caught up in the scandal.  People who have manipulated the power levers of the SBC for years, and found ways to tap into the income stream were found to have been involved in some of the sexual abuse within the denomination.  And their apologists and supporters are doing all that they can to get on the influential committees and stop any meaningful resolution to the problem.  

But that's what tends to happen when the cost of potential litigation is weighed against the needs of the victims of sexual abuse within the churches.  Not only have victims been treated abominably by their abusers, they have been raked over the coals and treated abominably by the denomination itself.  The fact that this is all taking place within the structure of a conservative, Evangelical Christian denomination at the heart of fundamentalist piety is just inconceivable.  The leadership of this denomination, in the manner in which it is handling this crisis, is so far outside of conduct expected and demanded by the scripture that it calls into question the sincerity of their faith.  

As is typical of the ham fisted manner in which this denomination often does business, the President of the SBC, Bart Barber, signed an amicus curiae brief on a Kentucky case seen as hurting a sexual abuse survivor rather than holding the perpetrator accountable. He did this the day before announcing who he was appointing to the task force in the SBC aimed at supporting and helping victims. He did apologize for not being observant enough to ask questions first.

"August 9, 2022 was not a day I spent trying to hurt survivors," he said.  "That's what makes it hurt so much and that's what makes me so disappointed in myself:  I did, in fact, wind up hurting survivors by what I did." 

Apology notwithstanding, this was yet another example of the difficulty Southern Baptists are having in determining whether they are, as a denomination, committed to Christian ministry and missions, or whether they are committed to the power and influence they have built into their denominational structure, and in their pursuit of worldly power and influence through their alliance with far right wing extremism.  The Bible which they claim to believe as authoritative scripture, the "sole authority for faith and practice," and which they claim is inerrant in its original manuscripts and infallible in its content has been set aside, and as a result, they keep coming down on the wrong side of a scandal of their own doing.