New speaker has worn his evangelical beliefs on his sleeve, but tries to assure moderates that they are part of his team

Rep. Mike Johnson at an American Legion event in his district
in 2021. (Photo by Henrietta Wildsmith, Shreveport Times)

New House Speaker Mike Johnson, who represents a 41-percent rural district in northwest Louisiana, "is known for placing his evangelical Christianity at the center of his political life and policy positions" and "has expressed skepticism about some definitions of the separation of church and state, placing himself in a newer cohort of conservative Christianity that aligns more closely with former President Donald J. Trump and that some describe as Christian nationalism," write Annie Karni, Ruth Graham and Steve Eder of The New York Times. "Now, as the most powerful Republican in Washington, he is in a position to inject it squarely into the national political discourse, where he has argued for years that it belongs."

But Johnson might not have been elected speaker without assurances he gave to Republican moderates from closely divided districts, suggest Marianna Sotomayor, Jacqueline Alemany, Leigh Ann Caldwell and Theodoric Meyer of The Washington Post. They report that Rep. Marcus J. Molinaro of New York, a freshman from a swing district, "spoke with Johnson about his track record of remarks, op-eds and bills criticizing the LGBTQ+ community," and "Johnson reassured Molinaro that he would no longer represent just his conservative Louisiana district, according to a person familiar with the conversation. Instead, Johnson continued, he would represent the entire Republican conference and protect vulnerable swing-district incumbents like Molinaro. Molinaro went on to support Johnson on the House floor, and was chosen to escort Johnson into the chamber once he was elected, which vulnerable Republicans considered a sign that the ultra-conservative new speaker viewed them as part of the team."

Johnson's election may have also been a result of political practicality and expedience. Looking at the Nov. 17 deadline when government funding runs out, Republican moderates "made the calculation that a government shutdown would be worse for their reelections than a conservative speaker, especially in an election year when Trump is likely to be on the top of the Republican ticket and Democrats’ main focus — not Johnson," the Post reports. "The speed of Johnson’s election, which prevented spending much time poring over his record, have left some Republicans alarmed at what reporters and researchers have already unearthed."

But moderates and other "governing-focused Republicans" say Johnson's relative anyonymity is a good thing. One told the Post, “It’s a great opportunity. Think about it. He’s a blank canvas to everyone else. He has the capacity to now build up his reputation and I think he’s suited to kind of build it by holding us together, not forcing us into things we don’t want to do.” Such members "consider Johnson more malleable than McCarthy," the Post reports. "Johnson — who told Republicans he met with that he has an 'open heart, open mind' — knows he must decide how to spend his political currency and whether to use it to fulfill promises he’s made to lawmakers."

"Moderate House Republicans say they have no qualms about his voting record.," Ken Tran reports for USA Today. "They say Republicans still control the House with just a four-seat majority, which means each member can leverage an outsized amount of power with their vote. Just as ultraconservatives wielded power during Speaker Kevin McCarthy's era, moderates can use their votes as loud voices."

Opinion: The crisis in America's evangelical churches calls for spiritual revival, not nostalgia, leading Baptist writes

Photo illustration by Katie Martin from photo by Roberto
Schmidt, Agence France-Presse/Getty via The Atlantic

American evangelicalism is at a crossroads; it must choose between spiritual revival or continuing in its attempt to recreate the past, and it cannot have it both ways, writes Russell Moore, editor and chief of Christianity Today, in an opinion for The Atlantic.

"The No. 1 question that younger evangelicals ask me is how to relate to their parents and mentors who want to talk about culture-war politics and internet conspiracy theories instead of prayer or the Bible. These young people are committed to their Christian faith, but they feel despair and cynicism about the church's future. Almost none of them even call themselves 'evangelical' anymore, now that the label is confused with political categories. 'Sometimes I feel like I'm crazy,' one pastor said to me just days ago. 'Does no one see that the church is in crisis?'"

Moore recounts his years as head of the public-policy wing of the Southern Baptist Convention: "For years, I dealt with evangelical backlash, including from some of my closest allies and friends, over my opposition to Donald Trump and my views on issues such as racial justice and church sexual abuse. I hardly thought of myself as a 'dissident.' Instead, I believed I was just what I'd always been: a loyal Southern Baptist evangelical trying to apply what I'd learned from children's Sunday school onward about basic Christian morality and justice. Still, I felt like an outcast and a heretic. I felt homeless. And two years ago, I left the Southern Baptist world I loved."

Revival may need to be redefined, Moore suggests: It is "a concept with a long history in American evangelicalism, rooted in the Bible, that says a people who have grown cold and lifeless can be renewed in their faith. It is a kind of resurrection from the dead. . . . Yet the language of revival is now riddled with cynicism, and is associated with some of the worst aspects of American evangelicalism. Entrepreneurial American evangelicalism built a programmatic structure for 'revival'—whether in the spring- and fall-meeting schedules of little Bible Belt churches like the one in which I grew up, or in massive stadium events traveling across the country like rock concerts." Commercialized revival isn't what Moore has in mind, nor does he think returning to "a mythical golden age" is a good choice.

"A generation ago, one evangelical leader said that the goal of the religious right should be 1950s America, just without the sexism and racism. . . . The idea of revival as a return to some real or imagined moment of greatness is not just illusory but dangerous," Moore writes. "Crisis shakes up an old order—ripping apart, as the apostle Paul put it, what's made of 'wood, hay, stubble' (1 Corinthians 3:12). Now every moment is a possible apocalypse—in which what's been around us all the while is revealed—and thus every moment is an hour of decision."

The answer to the crisis is founded in God's recent actions, Moore says: "Those who wish to hold on to the 'Old Time Religion' must recognize that God is doing something new. The old alliances and coalitions are shaking apart. And the sense of disorientation, disillusionment, and political and religious' homelessness' that many Christians feel is not a problem to be overcome but a key part of the process. . . . The insight of evangelical Christianity, at its best, is that any pilgrimage cannot start with a road map of certainty but must begin with the cry of faith that says, like the noble disciple Thomas wrongly labeled as a doubter, 'Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?' (John 14:5)." More says nostalgia "cannot protect religious faith, because it uses religion as a tool for worldly ends, leaving a spiritual void. The Christian Church still needs an organic movement of people reminding the rest of us that there's hope for personal transformation, for the kind of crisis that leads to grace."

Southern Baptist Convention head says blind partisanship 'destroys everything,' criticizes Christian nationalism, Trump

Bart Barber, the newly elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention, is opposed to Christian nationalism, the leader of of America's largest evangelical institution told Anderson Cooper in an interview that aired Sunday on "60 Minutes." Barber was critical of the SBC's handling of a years-long sexual abuse scandal and Donald Trump, and said blind partisanship "destroys everything."

Bart Barber (60 Minutes)

About 60% of white evangelicals believe the 2020 presidential election was stolen, said Ryan Burge, a professor, pastor and data analyst on religion and politics. Barber, however, said he believes that President Joe Biden was legitimately elected. Prior to the 2016 election, Barber called Trump a "demonstrably evil man" and didn't vote for him. Barber did vote for Trump in the 2020 election, noting that he was encouraged by the former president's advocacy for sentencing reform and his consistent pro-life support. The pastor's opinion of Trump turned negative again after the president incited a mob to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. 

"I, and I think a lotta Southern Baptists, would be thrilled to have the opportunity to support someone for leadership in our country who's strong on the values that matter to us, who can do that without putting the vice president's life in danger," Barber said. 

Barber was elected president of the SBC in June, just a month after an investigation revealed that the convention's prior leadership had for decades "ignored hundreds of credible accusations of sexual abuse in Southern Baptist churches and seminaries, partly to avoid being held financially liable," Cooper reports. Barber said that sort of behavior is what he's trying to work against, adding that at times the SBC did more than just ignore sexual abuse victims but sometimes "impugned their motives. Sometimes we attacked them." Barber said he's cooperating with a Justice Department investigation and appointed a sexual abuse task force that's building a registry of credible abuse reports to help churches track predators. 

"I have strong feelings about this," Barber said. "I'm -- it's not just anger. Although I'm angry about it. God called me to be a pastor when I was 11. I believe in this. For people to sully this hurts me. I'm not doing this to try to accomplish some PR objective for us.  I'm doing this because I wanna serve God well."

Quick hits: Studies confirm ivermectin doesn't work on Covid; how community journalism helps keep Vt. together...

Here's a roundup of stories with rural resonance; if you do or see similar work that should be shared on The Rural Blog, email us at heather.chapman@uky.edu.

The Federal Communications Commission is redrawing long-criticized broadband connectivity maps, but it looks like the new ones will omit agricultural structures. That could make rural areas look more connected than they are, and leave farmers without broadband where they need it. Read more here.

Here's a good explainer on how ranked choice voting works, and how it helped Democrat Mary Peltola win a House seat in Alaska. Read more here.

How community journalism helps keep Vermont together. Read more here.

The United States is becoming a 'developing country' on global rankings that measure democracy and inequality. Read more here.

The verdict is in on ivermectin. Repeated, reputable clinical trials show that the drug doesn't help Covid-19 patients, according to FactCheck.org. Read more here.

An invasive fungus virtually wiped out the American chestnut about a century ago. Now a nonprofit group is trying to repopulate reclaimed surface coal mines in Appalachia with a hybrid version of the species. Not only would that bring back a once-popular tree, it could help rural communities and the environment in many ways. Read more here.

Rural entrepreneurs report growing anxiety. Read more here.

The Christian majority in the U.S. could fade in coming decades, models predict. Read more here.

Evangelical group's report says Christians should battle climate change out of care for other people and the planet

"The National Association of Evangelicals has unveiled a sweeping report on global climate change, laying out what its authors call the 'biblical basis' for environmental activism to help spur fellow evangelicals to address the planetary crisis," Jack Jenkins reports for The Washington Post. "But the authors admit that convincing evangelicals is no small task, considering the religious group has historically been one of the demographics most resistant to action on the issue."

The report, titled "Loving the Least of These: Addressing a Changing Environment," has four main sections, each with supporting Scripture, perspectives from faith leaders, and real-world examples of faith communities that care for others through environmentally responsible actions.

The first section asserts that taking care of the environment is a biblical mandate, since Christians are called to be good stewards of the Earth and love their neighbors—especially the less fortunate. The second section notes the top signs that we live in a warming world, outlines the basic science of climate change, and discusses the anti-bias safeguards of the scientific process. The third section shows how climate change disproportionately affects people in poverty, and the fourth section advises Christians on how to take action as individuals and as faith communities. The report steers clear of current politics, advising readers to "become part of the bigger solution . . . by advocating for government and corporate action."

The report may have little impact; NAE first published a report on the issue in 2011. But it is part of a growing movement among evangelicals to tease environmentalism apart from its common association with liberal politics. Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist, evangelical Christian and The Nature Conservancy's chief scientist, has been honing that message with audiences for years. In fact, the report, which cites Hayhoe several times, emulates her methods (and her recent book) by trying to frame the climate crisis in ways more likely to resonate with deeply skeptical evangelicals.

Hayhoe recently advised a Wyoming audience that "We need to talk about things that are relevant to us: my family, my home, my job. . . . We need to talk about it in a way that directly connects the dots between things that we already care about, like having water, like agriculture and food." In a later interview with Mike Koshmrl of WyoFile, she elaborated: "We should really be focusing on what people have in common and what they agree on, and then building out a policy for that. And if it addresses climate resilience and climate mitigation at the same time, that’s an extra win."

The chief author of the report, Dorothy Boorse, a biology professor at Gordon College in Wenham, Mass., said she believes evangelicals have a "very deep desire to care for others," but it can be difficult to change entrenched opinions. But, she told Jenkins, discussing it in terms of issues evangelicals already care about, such as care for children, can "spark an imagination" that climate change is "not different from other problems in the world that we feel committed to care about, such as education, food availability or disaster relief."

Founder of Christian television network that discourages coronavirus vaccination dies from Covid-19

Marcus Lamb of Daystar

Marcus Lamb, the founder of Christian TV network Daystar, died of Covid-19 Tuesday. A spokesperson would not say whether the 64-year-old was vaccinated, but Michelle Boorstein reports for The Washington Post that during the pandemic "Lamb and his network went in big with anti-vaccine conspiracies, hosting daily interviews with skeptics who talked about dangerous, hidden forces pushing vaccines and stealing Christians’ freedoms." 

Lamb's wife Joni said he had diabetes and got pneumonia after being diagnosed with Covid-19, which he tried to treat with alternative medicines. Earlier this month, his son Jonathan said on the network that he believed the illness was a "spiritual attack from the enemy" in retaliation for the network's promotion of unfounded alternative treatments, Boorstein reports.

"Lamb was an outspoken skeptic of Covid-19 vaccines and eagerly promoted unproven, alternative treatments, including hydroxychloroquine, which the US Food and Drug Administration says has no effect on Covid-19, but has been linked to heart rhythm problems, kidney trouble, and liver failure," Daniel Silliman reports for Christianity Today. "In Lamb’s last fundraising newsletter, he touted Daystar as 'the only Christian TV Network that has made continuous efforts to warn you about the dangers of the Covid-19 ‘Vaccine’ and to help you with the truth' about alternative treatments."

"Daystar is the second-largest Christian network in the world, according to CBN News, a competitor, reaching 2 billion people worldwide. Its brand is a fluid, modern, charismatic faith, more about general good-vs-evil, miraculous healings and religious freedom than any specific denominational theology," Boorstein reports. The network was founded in 1998, and now owns more than 100 television stations all over the globe. In recent years Daystar has been rocked with scandal: first for an affair Lamb admitted to, and more recently for claims of fraud, Silliman reports. In 2011 an NPR investigation found that Daystar only gave away about 5% of the money it had raised for charity, and in 2020 the network "returned $3.9 million in Paycheck Protection Program money after an Inside Edition investigation found his ministry purchased a jet two weeks after getting a PPP loan meant to help employees struggling during the pandemic," Boorstein reports.

Pandemic roundup: Covid the leading cause of death among law enforcement; Mississippi hires retired extension agents to get rural areas vaccinated

Here's a roundup of recent news stories about the pandemic and vaccination efforts:

In Mississippi, which has one of the nation's lowest (but also one of the fastest-rising), vaccination rates, the state is hiring retired extension agents to help get rural residents vaccinated. Read more here.

Covid-19 is the leading cause of death among law enforcement. Read more here.

Covid is killing rural Americans at twice the rate of urban residents. Read more here, and read The Daily Yonder's more in-depth coverage here.

The vaccines on the market don't protect as well against the Delta variant, but Pfizer and Moderna have updated Delta-specific vaccines already created and in clinical trials. Read more here.

Meanwhile, Merck says a preliminary trial of their antiviral Covid treatment pill showed promising results. Read more here.

Vaccination misinformation is an epidemic in its own right, especially among Republicans and evangelical Christians. YouTube is banning all anti-vaccine content, but pandemic misinformation groups on Facebook continue to flourish.

Covid patients who refused the vaccine have largely embraced experimental monoclonal antibody treatments. That may seem contradictory, since many refused the vaccine because they believed not enough was known about it. But it's also important to realize that most people who refused the vaccine did not believe they were at a high risk of hospitalization. That's why treatments in general are more widely accepted than preventatives: there's no doubt medical intervention is needed. Read more here.

Despite clinical data indicating the Pfizer vaccine is safe for children, many say they won't get their child vaccinated right away if it becomes available, a recent poll showed. Read more here.

Quick hits: Black Appalachian music; cicada cooking; long-term agricultural issues; longing for your hometown

Want a snack? Cicadas could be on the menu.
(Washington Post photo by Allison Dinner)

Here's a roundup of stories with rural resonance; if you do or see similar work that should be shared on The Rural Blog, email heather.chapman@uky.edu.

President Biden has a 23 percent approval rating among white evangelicals, according to new data from the Pew Research Center. In general, Biden's approval rating among various religious affiliations is nearly the reverse of former President Trump's at the same point in his presidency. Read more here.

Insects could be the wave of the future for cheap protein in animal feed. But if you want to give it a whirl yourself, here's how to catch and cook cicadas (which will soon be plentiful as the Brood X batch surfaces after 17 years). Read more here.

A new study evaluates how laws banning tobacco-product sales to people under 21 have affected electronic cigarette use in rural and urban youth. Read more here.

The Agricultural Economic Insights team lists of the top 10 "front burner" issues that could affect the farm economy for years to come. That includes the pandemic, lingering effects of African swine fever, child nutrition policy, and immigrant-related farm-labor issues. Read the rest here.

A lawsuit by doctors who advocate plant-based diets claims Department of Agriculture dietary guidelines are driven by meat and dairy marketing concerns, not nutrition. Read more here.

More small towns are offering cash bonuses and more to attract new residents. Read more here.

Kids with a desk and a quiet place to study do better in school, research shows. Read more here.

Research shows that California's carbon-credit system actually allowed polluters to add millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Read more here.

The Smoky Mountain Air podcast is kicking off a new series exploring Black Appalachian music. Listen to the first episode here.

Apply for one of these science, health and environmental reporting fellowships by 6 p.m. ET May 10.

New author Rainesford Stauffer reflects in The Atlantic on how she couldn't wait to move away from Owensboro, Ky., pop. 55,000, when she was a teenager, but has found herself longing for it ever since. Many small-town natives move to big cities in their 20s, she writes, but wonders if they might find just as much fulfillment from staying home. Read more here.

The Justice Department says the federal government never instructed Tyson Foods to keep its plants open in the early months of the pandemic. That's according to documents in a federal lawsuit against the department from four relatives of meatpacking workers who died from Covid-19. It many have broad implications for similar lawsuits elsewhere. Read more here.

Finalists announced for Livingston Awards for outstanding work by young reporters; four have rural resonance

The University of Michigan has announced the finalists for its 2021 Livingston Awards, which honor outstanding reporting and storytelling by young journalists. Here are some with rural resonance:

• Samantha Hogan of The Maine Monitor and ProPublica's Local Reporting Network for "Defenseless: Investigating the Only State Without Public Defenders." Hogan noted in a tweet that she was the Monitor's only full-time reporter when they pitched a series on Maine's lack of public defenders to ProPublica. "I'm still humbled by their belief in small, local newsrooms and the outcome it can have," she wrote. Hogan received a rural computer-assisted reporting fellowship from Investigative Reporters and Editors and the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues.
• Elizabeth Dias of The New York Times for "America's Soul," a three-part series about the intersection of faith with politics and the pandemic. One story, about the "complete fusion of evangelical Christianity and conservative politics," was excerpted on The Rural Blog.
• Jessica Contrera of The Washington Post for "The Pandemic's Human Supply Chain," which illustrated pandemic supply-chain problems by following a restaurant hamburger on its journey from a cattle rancher to the plate.
• Joshua Sharpe of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for "The Imperfect Alibi: The forgotten suspect, the DNA, and the church murders that haunted a detective," a two-part series about a pair of murders in rural Georgia and the man wrongfully convicted for them.

How church leaders in one Kentucky Appalachian county are fighting vaccine hesitancy and leading by example

Pastor Buddy Simpson at the Wallins Church of God in
Harlan County (Herald-Leader photo by Silas Walker)

Evangelical leaders in in southeastern Kentucky's Harlan County, like many others across rural America, are increasingly "getting peppered with fear-based questions from their congregations and community about the vaccine, which they try to gently bat down," Alex Acquisto reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader. "As the state strives toward herd immunity — once 70-85 percent of the population is inoculated — public-health experts believe trusted community leaders are vital to diffusing vaccine hesitancy. And in a state like Kentucky, faith leaders often carry more sway than elected leaders."

Kentucky is deeply religious, and its southeast is particularly so. About half the Christians in the state identify as evangelicals, a group that polls have shown widespread concerns about getting vaccinated. "It’s not likely to help overall hesitancy that the federal government asked on Tuesday — and Kentucky agreed — to halt its use of all Johnson & Johnson vaccines after six women in other states developed blood clots within two weeks of getting the shot," Acquisto reports.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has launched vaccine promotion campaigns targeting the state's religious population, but many still hesitate to get vaccinated. Some are unsure whether the vaccines are safe, overwhelmed by the glut of conflicting information from social media and other sources. Some are worried about government overreach "because they don’t trust a government they think manipulated information to rig the most recent presidential election — a falsehood that former President Donald Trump has continued to repeat," Acquisto reports.

“There’s a lot of what we call false doctrine that’s being taught,” Friendship Missionary Baptist Church Pastor Sean Daniels told Acquisto. “I’m not saying any particular church in Harlan County teaches that. But it’s just a conclusion of a lot of the conspiracies and things they’re reading on the internet.”

In their efforts to fight the pandemic, Harlan County pastors have mostly "spoken in a unified voice, both about adjusting their definition of church during the pandemic and, now, receiving the vaccine," Moomey reports. "In many ways, faith leaders have acted as translators, helping people who look to them for guidance discern between what’s true and false." 

Many pastors advocate for a subtle approach. Pastor Buddy Simpson of the Wallins Church of God, who is fully vaccinated, encouraged his congregation to pray about it and decide for themselves, but also told them he believes vaccines are the safest bet. And Carl Canterbury, an EMT and traveling minister, "doesn’t talk about the vaccine from the pulpit, but if asked, he’ll tell. And many in his church have asked," Acquisto reports. He told her, "So many people think it’s a conspiracy, and they want to know, are you getting it? The day I had my shot, I had four members in our church to stop by and ask, did I take the shot, and I told them, yes. Because I did, they did."

Covid roundup: White evangelicals' vaccine resistance may limit herd immunity; vaccine tourism lifts rural economies

Here's a roundup of recent news about the pandemic and vaccination efforts:

Widespread vaccine refusal and hesitancy among white evangelicals is an obstacle to immunization efforts. Faith, politics and a mistrust of science all play a role in the phenomenon. Read more here.

A Pennsylvania study, the first known to examine Covid-19 outcomes among rural residents, found that rural Hispanics were at a much higher risk of getting the virus, that nursing-home residents were much more likely to die from Covid-19 than other rural patients, and that rural patients were more likely than their suburban and urban counterparts to experience diarrhea. Read more here.

A survey of rural health clinics found 55 percent of them are actively involved in administering the coronavirus vaccine to patients and over 90% are actively involved in education patients about it. But 43% have had their vaccine distribution plans disrupted by a lack of supply. Read more here.

Vaccine tourists are lifting rural economies. Read more here.

Rapid coronavirus tests are coming soon to a store near you. Read more here.

A fourth coronavirus surge could be in the works, but we have the tools to stop it. Read more here.

Experts disagree about whether we're entering a fourth surge. Read more here.

Vaccine passports, explained. Read more here.

A rural administrator at a facility that serves the elderly reflects on the challenges he and his staff and patients have faced during the pandemic. Read more here.

A retail-industry website discusses strategies to improve rural vaccine distribution. Read more here.

Three Daily Yonder readers share their experiences getting the coronavirus vaccine. Read more here.

Quick hits: How FCC has wasted broadband money; Rep. Kinzinger says he's following his duty as an evangelical

Here's a roundup of stories with rural resonance; if you do or see similar work that should be shared on The Rural Blog, email us at heather.chapman@uky.edu.

Book review: A political memoir, Rural Rebellion, describes how Nebraska became a Republican stronghold. Read more here.

Shifting economic recovery trends in the U.S. food-service sector affect the animal protein industry. Read more here.

Justin Timberlake says his upbringing in the rural South helped him relate to his character in his new movie Palmer, about an former football player who returns to his small town after a decade in prison. Read more here.

The last in a five-part series on Ajit Pai, chair of the Federal Communications Commission under President Trump, examines how the agency's choices for rural broadband buildout subsidies wasted money. Read more here. 

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., talks about why he felt it was his duty as an evangelical Christian to vote for Donald Trump's impeachment. Read more here.

Arrestees in the Capitol riots include a disproportionate number of current and former military. Read more here.

Registration is open for an online class series aimed at teaching beginners how to draft proposals for rural health grants. Read more here.

Pandemic relief and changes to a federal tax form last year may mean taxpayers get a smaller tax return this year or may end up owing money. Read more here.

Rural sanitation activist Catherine Coleman Flowers writes that policymakers must consult more rural voices. Read more here.

Trump-supporting evangelicals may face a reckoning; it's a divide that should be explored by rural journalists

Pastor Bob Rodgers of Louisville cursed those who oppose Trump
and "have stolen this election." (footage captured by WXIA-TV)

In the wake of the Capitol riot, some Christian leaders are calling on fellow American evangelicals to consider how their overwhelming support for President Trump may have helped fuel the insurrection. 

Ed Stetzer, head of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College in Illinois, told NPR's Rachel Martin that evangelicals "sold out their beliefs" and seem to have changed their moral stances to accommodate their support for Trump. 

"Part of this reckoning is: How did we get here? How were we so easily fooled by conspiracy theories?" Stetzer said. "We need to make clear who we are. And our allegiance is to King Jesus, not to what boasting political leader might come next." Evangelicals must ask themselves why they were drawn to a candidate whose life and practices are not aligned with Biblical beliefs, he said. 

According to research, respect for an authoritarian leader was the biggest indicator of support for Trump among voters. That resonates strongly with white evangelical Christians, many of whom view the world through an authoritarian religious lens. 

Many evangelicals acknowledge Trump has moral failings, but believe he was chosen to work God's will on Earth, by appointing conservative, anti-abortion judges, for example. "Images and references to being on the march for Jesus were common at the massive Jan. 6 rally — and later, riot — including among a segment of American Christianity that believes it has the power of prophecy," Michelle Boorstein reports for The Washington Post. "Some experts say charismatic, prophetic Christians who operate largely outside denominations make up U.S. religion’s fastest-growing subset. In recent decades, millions have been increasingly seeking out these prophets and apostles on YouTube channels, in books, group prayer calls, via regular group text chats and at conferences where breakout groups practice faith healing and raising people from the dead. And nothing has focused this disparate, independent group like Trump."

This brand of "neo-charismatic" Christianity is different from earlier ones because it's invested so heavily in Trump, said Peter Montgomery of the progressive advocacy group People for the American Way, who has studied right-wing religious movements for decades. "Many of these prophetic leaders in 2015-16 said Trump was anointed by God, divinely assigned to save America and protect religious freedom," Montgomery told Boorstein. "And now with them believing that Trump is standing in the way of Christianity being criminalized in the United States, this is an existential moment."

To these Christians, who seek divine intervention, Trump's struggles in office are no deterrent to support. "The high-octane, emotional fight for Trump makes sense for these believers, who take the stories of Christian scripture literally and see daily life as a visceral struggle between God and the devil," Boorstein reports. "Spiritual warfare is constant. Signs and wonders are everywhere. So as time passes and Trump’s options disappear, God’s move to keep him in power will be even more spectacular — evidence even more likely to spark a religious awakening or revival." In other words, the worse things look for Trump, the mightier God will look when He keeps Trump in office. 

Some evangelical leaders who continue to support Trump are getting blowback, though. "A group of Louisville clergymen on Wednesday condemned a sermon by the pastor of the Evangel World Prayer Center in which he falsely claimed the 2020 presidential election was 'stolen' and placed a curse on those allegedly involved," Ayana Archie reports for the Courier Journal.

The Rev. Bob Rodgers had said: "Father, those that have lied, those that have stolen this election, those that have cheated, I place the curse of God upon them. I curse you with weakness in your body. I curse you with poverty. I curse you with the worst year you've ever had in the name of the Lord."

The Rev. Tim Findley of the Kingdom Fellowship Christian Life Center called the sermon "irresponsible" and "dangerous" in light of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Archie reports. Another Black evangelical pastor, the Rev. Mario Martin of Praise Nation Contemporary Church, said evangelical support of Trump advances "the spirit of white supremacy and white privilege through white prophecy," Archie reports. The Rev. Frank Smith Jr. of Christ's Church For Our Community said during the livestreamed presser: "I know there is much talk about the Christian right, but this is not Christian and this is not right."

UPDATE: David Brooks, a moderately conservative columnist for The New York Times, did some reporting and found a great divide about Trump "inside evangelical Christianity and within conservatism right now. As a conservative Christian friend of mine put it, there is strife within every family, within every congregation, and it may take generations to recover." Some excerpts: 

On the one hand, there are those who are doubling down on their Trump fanaticism and their delusion that a Biden presidency will destroy America.

“I rebuke the news in the name of Jesus. We ask that this false garbage come to an end,” the conservative pastor Tim Remington preached from the pulpit in Idaho on Sunday. “It’s the lies, communism, socialism.” . . . 

On the other hand, many Trump supporters have been shaken to the core by the sight of a sacrilegious mob blasting Christian pop music and chanting “Hang Mike Pence.” There have been defections and second thoughts. The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, who delivered a prayer at the Trump inaugural, told his congregation Sunday, “We must all repent, even the church needs to repent.”

"This divide probably exists in most American communities. Rural journalists should report on it," said Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, publisher of The Rural Blog.

Brooks concludes with some advice of his own, such as not tolerating "cyberterrorism within a community or congregation." He adds:

Others have to be reminded of the basic rules for perceiving reality. They have to be reminded that all truth is God’s truth; that inquiry strengthens faith, that it is narcissistic self-idolatry to think you can create your own truth based on what you “feel.” There will probably have to be pastors and local leaders who model and admire evidence-based reasoning, wrestling with ideas.

On the left, leaders and organizations have arisen to champion open inquiry, to stand up to the cancel mobs. They have begun to shift the norms.

The problem on the right is vastly worse. But we have seen that unreason is a voracious beast. If it is not confronted, it devours not only your party, but also your nation and your church.

Evangelical doctor group begs churches to stop holding services

"As coronavirus cases spike, a national group that represents thousands of evangelical Christian doctors and other healthcare providers is asking churches to stop holding services in person," Sarah McCammon reports for NPR.

Leaders of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations, who claim 20,000 members, said that Christians who hold large gatherings may "appear to care only about our individual freedoms and don't care that we may be contributing to others getting this illness because of our selfishness."

According to several studies, most health-care workers infected with the coronavirus got it out in the community, not at work, the statement says. That includes church services.

Dr. Jeff Barrows, CMDA's senior vice president for bioethics and public policy, told McCammon that Christians are commanded to love their neighbors as themselves, and that avoiding in-person gatherings is one of the "most tangible" ways to do that right now.

"Barrows said he's particularly concerned about the risk of asymptomatic carriers of the virus spreading it to vulnerable people with weaker immune systems," McCammon reports. He also said that CMDA members who work in hospitals and emergency rooms are warning that the pandemic has stressed the medical system to its breaking point.

"Polling indicates that political conservatives are more skeptical of the need for social distancing, a category that overlaps substantially with white evangelicals," McCannon writes. "According to a survey in May, white evangelicals – the largest religious group in the country by some measures – also expressed more reluctance than most other groups toward the idea of being vaccinated against covid-19."

Religion mixes with politics as hundreds of rural churches pledge to 'vote with values' and Patriot Churches pop up

Pastor Ken Peters prays with attendees at a Patriot Church in Lenoir City, Tenn.

(Photo by Stacy Kranitz for the Washington Post)

Churches are barred from endorsing political candidates if they want to keep their non-profit status, but as usual the presidential election has nonetheless prompted commentary and advocacy from many faith leaders and spurred the creation of a new evangelical group. 

President Trump enjoys broad support from white evangelicals, whom he promised more political power; 81 percent voted for him in 2016, and the latest Pew Research Center polling shows that 78% support him now. But some evangelicals and other Christians oppose him on moral grounds.

Earlier this month, a group called Pro-life Evangelicals for Biden launched, saying the Democratic challenger's overall agenda is more biblically sound though they disagree with the Democratic Party's stance on abortion rights, Sarah Pulliam Bailey reports for The Washington Post.

More than 100 faith leaders from rural and small-town churches from various denominations across the U.S. recently signed a pledge to "vote with values of compassion, love, mercy and love for their neighbors. The pledge endorses no candidate or party, but some tenets seem to signal or greenlight Democratic support, including a commitment to help victims of racial injustice and an emphasis on "the importance of family unity and reunification." The signatories are part of Church World Service, a non-profit organization that aims to help communities worldwide through "just and sustainable responses to hunger, poverty, displacement and disaster." The Rev. John McCullough, president and CEO of CWS, is affiliated with Vote Common Good, an organization urging people of faith to oppose Trump on moral grounds. McCullough, and 1,600 other faith leaders endorsed Biden earlier this month.

Some members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are reluctant to vote for Trump, citing his moral failings. In Arizona, the only toss-up state with a significant Mormon population, that could help swing its 11 electoral votes to Biden, Hank Stephenson reports for The New York Times.

However, some people of faith are embracing Trump more firmly, as new congregations affiliated with the Christian nationalist "Patriot Church" movement are starting to pop up, Bailey reports for the Post. The movement is nondenominational but decidedly straightforward about its conservative politics. For many at one Patriot Church in Tennessee, "The political boldness in worship is a breath of fresh air. They complain that social media restricts their free speech, and they fear government-mandated vaccines," Bailey reports. "Whether Trump wins or loses, religion experts believe these Americans are building powerful networks that are expected to endure long after Trump has left the White House."

Trump presidency highlights the 'complete fusion of evangelical Christianity and conservative politics'

President Trump rose to power partly because he promised evangelical Christians more political power, and such voters could be his best shot at re-election, Elizabeth Dias reports for The New York Times.

"The Trump era has revealed the complete fusion of evangelical Christianity and conservative politics, even as white evangelical Christianity continues to decline as a share of the national population," Dias reports. "There are some signs of fraying at the edges of the coalition, among some women and young people. If even a small fraction turns away from Mr. Trump, it could make the difference to his re-election. But even if he loses in November, mainstream evangelical Christianity has made plain its deepest impulses and exposed where the majority of its believers pledge allegiance."

One January 2016 speech at Dordt University, a Christian college in Sioux Center, Iowa, was widely covered because Trump said he "could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody" without losing any voters, Dias reports. But some locals in the town of 7,500 keyed into another part of the speech: "Christianity will have power," Trump said. "If I’m there, you’re going to have plenty of power, you don’t need anybody else. You’re going to have somebody representing you very, very well. Remember that."

Though only 11 percent of Republicans in Sioux County caucused for Trump nine days later, 81% did in November, matching the 81% of nationwide white evangelicals who voted for Trump nationwide.

White evangelicals could be "Trump's best chance at re-election," Dias reports, since he has trailed presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden by double digits in nationwide polls for a month. Though Trump's approval rating has gone down slightly among white evangelicals, 82% said they intend to vote for him in November, according to a Pew Research Center poll conducted in late June.

Plenty of pundits, researchers and journalists have speculated, investigated, or gathered data on why evangelicals support Trump, with theories ranging from the "purely transactional" promise of appointing more conservative judges and ending legal abortion to hatred of Hillary Clinton.

"But beneath all this, there is another explanation. One that is more raw and fundamental. Evangelicals did not support Trump in spite of who he is," Dias writes. "They supported him because of who he is, and because of who they are. He is their protector, the bully who is on their side, the one who offered safety amid their fears that their country as they know it, and their place in it, is changing, and changing quickly. White straight married couples with children who go to church regularly are no longer the American mainstream. An entire way of life, one in which their values were dominant, could be headed for extinction. And Trump offered to restore them to power, as though they have not been in power all along."

White evangelicals Dias interviewed expressed fears that Christianity—which they often equated with rural values—was under attack, and said they felt that city dwellers looked down on rural residents, and didn't understand their way of life. Trump, they said, recognized that fear and would fight for them.

"The one group of people that people felt like they could dis and mock and put down had become the Christian. Just the middle-class, middle-American Christians," said Lisa Burg of Orange City, Iowa. "That was the one group left that you could just totally put down and call deplorable. And he recognized that, You know what? Yeah, it’s OK that we have our set of values, too. I think people finally said, 'Yes, we finally have somebody that’s willing to say we’re not bad, we need to have a voice too.'"

Quick hits: Evangelicals vary in response to Trump's Bible photo op; Tyson reinstates policy penalizing absent workers

Here's a roundup of stories with rural resonance; if you do or see similar work that should be shared on The Rural Blog, email us at heather.chapman@uky.edu.

Op-ed advocates making investing in resilient, localized food system part of next stimulus. Read more here.

Critics say small rural businesses left out of Paycheck Protection Plan funds; Reuters analysis shows how much PPP money went to big businesses that ducked paying taxes. Read more here.

Evangelicals vary in response to Trump's Bible photo op. Read more here.

Op-ed touts solar power as economic engine in rural eastern Kentucky. Read more here.

Webinar discusses news media perspectives on mental health during the pandemic. Read more here.

Tyson reinstates policy penalizing absentee workers, but says workers with covid-19 symptoms won't be penalized. Read more here.

Franklin Graham's magazine casts 'mainstream media' as the primary device for indoctrinating society with evil beliefs

By Al Cross
Director, Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues

"The Lies of Mainstream Media" is the headline over the cover story in the February edition of Decision magazine, which touts itself as "the evangelical voice for today." Its editor-in-chief is Franklin Graham, head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and son of its namesake and founder. The story by Editor Bob Paulson begins:

   It’s a normal day in the life of a typical man or woman in any Western nation: Wake up and, while getting ready for the day, watch a morning news program that—by the stories it covers, the sources it cites and the language it uses—promotes a leftist-progressive bias.
   Drive to work, listening to hit songs filled with sexual immorality, greed and violence. Throughout the day, keep an eye on social media, where memes and discussions polarize neighbors, distort conflicting views and breed bitterness and cynicism.
   Back at home that evening, watch television programs that—if LGBTQ activists have their way—will within the next five years have 20 percent of series regular characters portrayed as gay or lesbian. Or skip TV altogether and play a video game that glamorizes violence and crime.

Paulson's emphasis is on popular culture, but he the represents the news media as the main transmission device for evil. As the sub-headline says, "We are inundated with messages that contradict God's Word." Many of those messages come through social media, not news media, but the article does not make that distinction (one that is important for journalists to explain).

Photo illustration from Decision magazine

Perhaps because it's easier to attack the news media, a narrow and relatively popular segment of society, than popular culture (which is, after all, popular) the article's presentation emphasizes the news media. The headline on the magazine's cover describes it as "CONFRONTING THE LIES THAT DECEIVE A NATION" and the story is illustrated with a photo of a young woman watching a television screen announcing the presentation of "LIVE FAKE NEWS." The magazine's internal label for the photo is "Media indoctrination feature," indicating that the article was written to make the case that the media -- especially the news media -- have an agenda of telling people how to think and believe.

As a Christian and a journalist, I take offense. The use of the term "mainstream media" is, in effect, a promotion of ideological or partisan sites that don't practice journalism so much as they advocate. People need to know the difference, and that includes the millions of people for whom Billy Graham meant the truth, and words to live by.

At the same time, journalists and their paymasters must realize that their own presentation practices make it too easy for their audiences to confuse news with entertainment, and fact with opinion. We need to do a better job of explaining and upholding our standards. All have sinned and come short.

Jerry Falwell Jr. and Gov. Jim Justice invite conservative Virginia counties to secede and join West Virginia

Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. speaks as West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice listens. (Photo via TPM)

The boundary of Virginia and West Virginia is barely visible, in this
map of the 2016 presidential vote by precinct, since the states' rural
areas voted Republican.(New York Times map; click on it to enlarge)

"In what they acknowledged is a long-shot bid, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice and Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. urged unhappy Virginia counties Tuesday to secede and join a neighboring state where Democrats aren’t in charge," Anthony Izaguirre and Alan Suderman report for The Associated Press.

Liberty University is in Lynchburg, Va., an independent city surrounded by one of the counties encouraged to secede; Falwell, a staunch supporter of President Trump, has helped vault the college into a conservative political touchstone in a state that has recently turned Democratic. Justice, who recently became a Republican and is running for re-election in a state freshly dominated by the GOP, said West Virginia welcomes those who oppose abortion and gun control.

The so-called "Vexit" movement is a response to last November's Virginia election, in which Democrats won full control of the state legislature. With Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam at the helm, Democrats have "pledged to enact gun-control measures, roll back abortion restrictions, and prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ people," the AP reports. That sparked a huge backlash in rural Virginia: at least 60 of the 95 counties have since declared themselves "Second Amendment sanctuaries," a largely symbolic gesture that asserts local authorities' right to disregard state and federal gun-control laws, AP reports. More recently, thousands of gun-rights activists protested in the state capital of Richmond, many wearing tactical gear and carrying firearms.

The press conference was met with derision on both sides of the aisle in the Virginia General Assembly; Sen. Emmett Hanger, a Republican, likened the press conference to a "comedy routine," Izaguirre and Suderman report. A spokesperson for Northam said, "Sounds like it’s an election year in West Virginia," Matt Shuham reports for Talking Points Memo.

However, some West Virginia state legislators are taking the notion seriously. A few weeks ago, lawmakers "introduced formal resolutions inviting parts of Virginia to join their state. One resolution targets Virginia’s Frederick County, but was met with a shrug from the county’s leader," the AP reports. "The other casts a wider net to all Virginia’s counties, saying the 'government at Richmond now seeks to place intolerable restraints upon the rights guaranteed under the Second Amendment.'"

Justice noted during the press conference that West Virginia and Virginia share a unique history, alluding to the fact that West Virginia is the only state formed by seceding from a Confederate state. Justice reiterated at the press conference that all Virginia counties have a 158-year-old standing invitation to join the state, Elizabeth Tyree reports for WSET-TV in Lynchburg.

It's unclear how secession would proceed, but Falwell said lawyers had advised him that Virginia counties would need to first conduct petition drives, then hold a referendum, and if that succeeded, the proposal would go before the General Assembly, Izaguirre and Suderman report. Rick Boyer, a conservative activist attorney in Virginia, said he's working hard to make Vexit a reality. "This isn’t street theater; we fully intend to do everything we can to see it through," Boyer told the AP.

Series examines Midwest evangelicals' attitude about Trump

A series from The Guardian examines the role of rural evangelical Christians in electing, and perhaps re-electing, President Trump. It focuses on Midwest counties that Barack Obama carried in 2012 but went to Trump in 2016, helping deliver swing states and the presidency to Trump, Chris McGreal reports.

Trump dominated rural areas, especially among white evangelical Christians, who are disproportionately rural. In exit polls, about 80 percent of white evangelicals said they voted for Trump. Research has identified many reasons for this: fears of losing their rights, fears of losing white cultural primacy, and resentment of "coastal elites" while rural economies still struggled to recover from the recession. Many of those fears were fanned by evangelical media sources that have filled the void left by weakened or closed newspapers.

Forest County, Wisconsin
(Wikipedia map)

The Guardian is writing a story apiece about three rural Obama-to-Trump counties in Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin. In Forest County, Wisconsin, pastor Franz Gerber said he voted for Trump because he wanted conservative Supreme Court justices and anti-abortion laws, but is disturbed that many in his congregation appear to worship the president more than Jesus. "It seems like there are many evangelical Christians that are willing to die on the hill of supporting the Republican president, supporting Donald J. Trump. And to me, that hill is not worth dying on. No matter who the candidate is, no matter who the individual is," Gerber told McGreal. "To put all your hope into that individual is a dangerous road. Scripture would warn us against that."

Gerber said that many in the county of 9,000, which includes two Native American reservations, have strained relationships because of politics. Farmer Jennifer Nery, a former local Republican Party official, said she regrets her vote for Trump and thinks many others do too, but thinks they're being quiet so as not to ruffle feathers. Her change of heart led to a falling out with her friend Terri Burl, now the Forest County GOP chair, McGreal reports.

Burl says she doesn't think Trump's support is declining in rural areas, and waves away notions that the president should not receive support because of his morality. "People always say, look at how he treats people, his affairs, how he cheated on his wife," she told McGreal. "People like me say I’m not voting for him to be my pastor, my father, my role model. I’m voting for him to get some things done in Washington, D.C., that have never been done before. We forgive him because of other things."