Warren Throckmorton

“That’s not fair and that’s not American” – Rep. John Bryant

With oral arguments in the Oklahoma charter school case, today has been a big day for separation of church and state. In a much less public event, yesterday was also big for church-state separation in Texas. The Texas House of Representatives Committee on Public Education had hearings on HB 10 which would require schools to post the decalogue in every classroom.

During the hearing, good questions and bad history was on display. I want to post a lengthy segment of the hearing. This segment contains an inspired defense of separation of church and state presented by Representative John Bryant (D-Dallas). Bryant served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 1997 and then was elected to the Texas House in 2022.
Continue reading “Ten Commandments and the Separation of Church and State in Texas”

And has it only been around since 2006?

A transcript of a podcast came across my desk involving some historians talking about Christian nationalism. Well, that happens almost everyday in 2025 so what was different about this one?

You might say these three Mark David Hall, Miles Smith IV, and Daniel K. Williams seemed skeptical about the existence or importance of Christian nationalism. Law and Liberty podcast host James Patterson described the purpose of the episode this way:

Today we have a panel of guests to talk about whether Christian nationalism is in the past or if the subject matter still remains relevant, as well as to discuss what exactly the ideas of Christian nationalism are and how dangerous they are, if at all.

So to get to the point: in the podcast, Regent University historian Mark David Hall said Christian nationalism is “problematic” but not a “big, huge, scary monster.”

Mark David Hall:
Continue reading “Is Christian Nationalism a Big, Huge, Scary Monster?”

Pete Hegseth’s church spreads alt-history

Now, this is a doozy. Reconstructionist pastor and author George Grant was on The “Reformation Red Pill” podcast yesterday (12/8/24) and did what Christian nationalists often do with history — make it up.

The podcast is hosted by ministers Brooks Potteiger and Joshua Haymes. Haymes is a pastoral intern at the Pilgrim Hill Reformed Fellowship, a Nashville-area church where Potteiger is the lead pastor. Pilgrim Hill is affiliated with Doug Wilson’s denomination (Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches). Oh, and according to published reports, Donald Trump’s nomination for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is a church member and a fan of the podcast.
Continue reading “No, the Founders Didn’t Debate the Bible During the Constitutional Convention”

My contention is that Christian nationalism requires distorted history in order to survive. Today’s illustration of this comes from physician and former HUD Secretary under Donald Trump, Ben Carson. Apparently promoting his new book Perilous Fight, Carson tells a whopper about Benjamin Franklin (Graham’s tweet has now been removed). Watch:

Transcript: “There are forces that have always wanted to fundamentally change us. You know the founders of this country were really some terrific people. And they were studious. And they studied every government system that ever existed in the history of the world because they wanted to take the good things and leave the bad things out and give us the kind of country that would last and would have freedoms for our people.
Continue reading “Ben Carson Botches Ben Franklin Prayer Story (UPDATED)”