I asked yesterday if the Christian right was dead, at least as a viable political entity? My answer, along with that of a growing number of commentators and former-insiders to this movement, is a resolute yes.

Consider this fact: a growing number of very conservative Christians are frustrated with politics! Kathleen Parker noted in her April 5 syndicated column on this issue, published in the Washington Post, that "[this question] is getting fresh air lately as frustrated conservative Christians question the pragmatism—defined as the compromising of principles—of the old guard." She references several conservative spokespersons, one of whom represents a strong anti-public school stance. (This movement has always been there but it seems to be gaining greater force right now as more and more see the public schools are the problem in our culture.)
These Christians see James Dobson as having compromised too much to build a political movement. In my way of thinking, Dobson and compromise do not seem to flow in […]

Kathleen Parker asks, in her Washington Post syndicated column of April 5, this question: "Is the Christian right finished as a political entity?" By asking this question Ms. Parker is not asking if Christian involvement in moral issues is dead but rather "Is the Christian right finished as a viable movement and force in politics?" She thinks that it is. I have agreed with this premise since at least 2004, if not sooner.

I personally raised significant opposition to the Christian right, from my pulpit as a 27 year old pastor, on July 4, 1976! I still recall the sermon well and the response that followed. Many were unaware, at that time, what was happening and who was leading this change.

If you know recent history you realize that July 4, 1976, was the 200th anniversary of the American Declaration […]

The number of Christian “discernment” ministries seems to abound. No one knows for sure how many there really are but there have to be hundreds, maybe thousands. I have not spent much time tracking these kinds of things down, since I think most of them serve little or no good purpose. The people who post on these sites often oppose “catholic” Christianity. (Some are Protestants, while others are Orthodox or Roman Catholic, who also buy into this kind of stuff.) Almost all have some kind of narrow agenda at stake, what we once called " a dog in the fight." They thrive on looking under theological rocks and then making simplistic charges. They often find unsubstantiated facts about ministries that they target for opposition. The truth does not much matter so long as you can "warn" people about how bad someone else is in their service of Christ.

The word discernment means to […]