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Why I think Christian Nationalism is bad for Christianity. By Kelly Lamon

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My daughter, a first-time voter, said to me, “Mom, it feels really important to me that Kamala Harris wins the election.”   I replied, “I feel the same way.”   Plenty of pundits and talking heads are outlining why: the policies on her website, women’s rights, empowerment of the middle class, her message about lifting people up.   But I want to talk about a different reason.   As I Christian pastor, I’m concerned about the future of Christianity in the US due to the uprising of Christian nationalism since Trumpism took root.   It’s no surprise that as a pastor, I believe that faith really matters.   I can cite scientific research about the healing power of spirituality, point you to stories of individual transformation, and highlight the positive impact of religion on society.   Heck, I've devoted my life to sharing this good news.  But  I am also astutely aware of the damage that faithful people can do: oppression, manipulation, coercio...
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Tragedy and Grace

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This is written with permission of the daughter of Sha-Von.   Last year, my church started a journey of more actively pursuing racial justice.   After so much struggle in the Twin Cities, we could not turn our eyes away any longer.   As a step in this journey, the staff and executive team was asked to make progress in our ability to adapt to diverse cultures, backgrounds, and experiences, and to understand more deeply the biases operating in us.   I remember meeting one-on-one with our consultant.   I found myself saying to him over and over, “I feel as if I know what I need to do in my head, but I don’t intentionally create space and time to interact with the diversity around me.   I’m scared.   I'm a  perfectionist.   And I can’t be perfect at this.   I’m worried that my interactions could create harm.   I don’t want to be that person.   So I just withdraw.”   That was last spring.   And I didn’t make an...
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Was Jesus Polarizing?

Was Jesus a polarizing figure? My church will do a worship series on polarization during Lent.   Wish us luck!   People are already asking me, “Are you really going to ask me to interact with others whose views are so off course that they would become violent?”   That response is incredibly telling of the dynamics at play within our society—that people automatically go to the extreme without seeing the rest.   The goal of this series is to investigate whether the life of Jesus teaches us anything about polarization. I’ve been doing some scriptural research.   And I got to tell you: it’s been a tough day.   You know when you are reading a novel and you prescribe a personality, tone of voice, and temperament to a character?   It’s almost like you can hear their voice in your head as you are reading dialogue.   The author of the story, of course, plants all the seeds through their character development, but ultimately the reader’s own lens giv...
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