James Taylor’s song about the Magi, “Home by Another Way,” has been quoted in countless sermons by me and many others for Epiphany, the end of Christmastide.
“Those magic men, the Magi Some people call them wise Or oriental, even kings Well anyway, those guys They visited with Jesus They sure enjoyed their stay Then warned in a dream of King Herod’s scheme They went home by another way Yes, they went home by another way Home by another way”
Barbra Brown Taylor (no relation to James) references the song in her book, Home by Another Way.
“Maybe me and you can be wise guys too And go home by another way We can make it another way Safe home as they used to say Keep a weather eye to the chart on high And go home another way”
I love Taylor’s song, from the Album Never Die Young, released in 1988. It’s a great song I’ll listen to over and over.
I didn’t grow up in the church and didn’t learn about Epiphany until I was nearly 30. It was another seven years before I became a baptized Christian, and a few years more before I entered seminary.
“Steer clear of royal welcomes Avoid a big to-do A king who would slaughter the innocents Will not cut a deal for you He really, really wants those presents He’ll comb your camel’s fur ‘Til his boys announce they’ve found trace amounts Of your frankincense, gold, and myrrh
Time to go home by another way Home by another way You have to figure the Gods saying play the odds And go home by another way”
After seminary, Epiphany began to take on a much deeper spiritual significance for me because Jan. 6 is also my birthday.
Epiphany is one of the oldest, most cherished Christian traditions and the heart of the Christmas season.
“We can make it another way Safe home as they used to say Keep a weather eye to the chart on high And go home another way
Home is where they want you now You can more or less assume that you’ll be welcome in the end Mustn’t let King Herod haunt you so Or fantasize his features when you’re looking at a friend”
“Well it pleasures me to be here And to sing this song tonight They tell me that life is a miracle And I figured that they’re right But Herod’s always out there He’s got our cards on file It’s a lead pipe cinch, if we give an inch Then he realized it’d take a mile
It’s best to go home by another way Home by another way We got this far through a lucky star But tomorrow is another day We can make it another way Safe home as they used to say Keep a weather eye to the chart on high And go home another way Go home another way”
Perhaps it’s fitting that this significant holy day is ignored by the vast majority of American Christians who find Christmas in commercialism and not tradition.
Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, Italy. Detail from: “Mary and Child, surrounded by angels,” mosaic of a Ravennate Italian-Byzantine workshop, completed within 526 AD by the “Master of Sant’Apollinare.”
Follow Faith on the Fringe on Facebook. for daily doses of Christianity on the fringe of the mainstream faith. Or invite me to preach at your church or speak at your gathering.
Service begins at 11 a.m. and you’re invited. I’d love to speak with your faith community in 2026.
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Dec. 17 marked the anniversary of the Wright Brother’s first four flights. (Or as Dave Barry called them, Orville and Wilbur Wright Brothers.) This summary of the four flights on Dec. 17 is excerpted from my book, Soar to Success the Wright Way.
My motivational biography identifies the success characteristics of the Wrights as well as other aviation pioneers like Jackie Cochran and Benjamin Davis Jr.
Dec. 9 was the 60th anniversary of the premiere of A Charlie Brown Christmas, watched by half the television audience. Have you ever noticed the secret symbolism? Follow this link to see the secret.
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When Jesus was born, the angel appeared to the shepherds. Not kings and the wealthy, but the poorest of the working poor.
God appears to the shepherds, not to the Emperor Augustus. Not to the governor of Syria.
The Christ child appears first to those with dirty hands and muddy feet— simple farmers raising sheep, not to the wealthy or the leaders or the military.
Jesus said that he came so that all might have life, and have it more abundantly. But he didn’t come to the religious leaders or the money lenders first. First, he came to the poor on the edges of society. That’s where Jesus remains today and where Jesus expects to find us.
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New Year’s Eve is known as Watch Night in the African American community as they remember and commemorate the enslaved Americans looking to Jan. 1, 1863, and the implementation of the Emancipation Proclamation. Follow this link to read more about the history of Watch night. https://www.patheos.com/blogs/faithonthefringe/2024/12/watch-night-2024/
Everyday, we’re shocked anew by so-called Christians who unflinchingly accept the lawlessness and clear immorality of the Trump regime and ignore the Bible. I wrote this post to try to explain the phenomenon of confirmation bias affecting what we want to see and are unable to see.
“Not the illegals,” Christian Nationalists answer.
Like too many Christians, Trump supporters believe they are the Samaritan in Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan.
At the very best, they are the priest or the Levite, passing on the other side of the road, refusing to stop and offer aid or assistance to those in need.
The Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress are the robbers, stripping the poorest of us of our heath insurance. They destroyed food, rather than feed starving children. They enrich the wealthy with tax cuts and attack the arts, science and education while putting us at greater risk by diverting law enforcement efforts away from foreign and domestic terrorism. Follow this link to read more.
Oct. 18 saw millions of Americans take to the streets for No Kings protests across the country.
I was participating in a book festival across the street from a protest and sold a number of books to the good people who assembled to raise their voices. I took these photos.
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Trump responded to the protests and instantly changed the national conversation by illegally destroying a portion of the White House.
The illegal destruction is more than a symbol or metaphor.
It is a stark and obvious example of Trump’s reckless lawlessness as he ignores the processes and policies governing public buildings. Presidents before Trump made changes to the White House — they observed the laws and procurement process — Trump is doing it illegally.
(It’s worth noting that demolition before construction usually doesn’t occur in the fall, before cold weather halts construction altogether. This is the opposite of construction best practices.)
The National Trust for Historic Preservation issued this statement:
“We respectfully urge the Administration and the National Park Service to pause demolition until plans for the proposed ballroom go through the legally required public review processes, including consultation and review by the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts, both of which have authority to review new construction at the White House, and to invite comments from the American people.
“These processes provide an essential opportunity for transparency and public engagement—values that have guided preservation of the White House under every administration going back to the public competition in 1792 that produced the building’s original design. Doing so will help ensure that the project honors the exceptional historic significance of the White House and its grounds and acknowledges the investment that the American people have in the preservation of this beloved place.”
Trump doesn’t care. He doesn’t care about history, the White House, or the American people.
When Trump announced plans for the ballroom on July 31, he said, “It won’t interfere with the current building. It’ll be near it but not touching it. And pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of.”
“It was never thought of as being much,” Trump lied on Oct. 22. “It was a very small building.”
Remember when Trump was seen on the roof of the East Wing, months ago? We now know he was up there looking at where the destruction would be.
Between his public statements in July and October, alleged costs for the project increased more than 30% from $200 million to $300 million. That number will continue to increase because Trump is not only a pathological liar, he’s an exceptionally poor businessman who couldn’t understand why marble in airplane washrooms is a bad idea.
“This is Trump’s presidency in a single photo,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren published online with a picture of the destruction. “Illegal, destructive, and not helping you.”
Defenders, apologists and appeasers make excuses to rationalize the irrational and to normalize criminality.
It’s not his house to destroy.
It’s not his government to dismantle.
Congress is charged with protecting the nation and its people, but Republicans are complicit.
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In another example of the regime’s lawlessness, the administration is murdering people boating in international waters.
If any other country murdered Americans in international waters off the coast of Virginia, there would be a national uproar, because it’s clearly illegal.
It’s just as illegal for the U.S. to murder boaters in international waters near other countries.
This isn’t law enforcement. It’s murder without arrests or trials and it makes the world more dangerous for all Americans.
International murders like these are why the U.S. isn’t a signatory of the International Criminal Court; we don’t want our presidents charged for murdering people.
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In still another example of lawlessness, the government has no budget or funding.
Congressional Republicans were able to ensure the rich got tax cuts while tens of millions of working Americans, including me, face higher insurance premiums. Millions more have lost basic food subsidies.
Democrats in the Senate are holding fast on not temporarily funding the government to ensure that massive cuts to health care and food are restored.
The MAGA echo chamber is spinning Republican incompetence by blaming the minority party for not signing the Continuing Resolution to keep the government funded temporarily.
Republicans had 10 months to pass spending legislation and they didn’t. Republicans claim government doesn’t work so they get elected and prove it.
In other examples of lawlessness . . .
The regime regularly violates the Hatch Act with partizan political messages posted on public websites.
Every president before Trump deported illegal immigrants — Trump is doing it illegally without due process and in clear violation of the law.
Around half of American Christians are okay with all of this.
Finally, Abigail Spanberger will be elected governor of Virginia this week. Pundits will try to frame her victory as as rejection of Trump, which it will be, in some ways.
But as a Virginian who worked in state government under seven governors, Virginia has been rejecting Trump and idiotic Republican policies for decades. This week will be no different.
I don’t normally send a mid-month update, but this is a September to remember.
Try to remember the kind of September when life was slow and oh, so mellow. Try to remember the kind of September when grass was green and grain was yellow. Try to remember the kind of September when you were a tender and callow fellow. Try to remember, and if you remember, Then follow.
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On Sept. 10, right-wing political extremist Charlie Kirk was a victim of the gun violence he repeatedly minimized.
Kirk is being lionized by the Right like another Horst Wessel.
Most of the mainstream media, the entire Republican Party, and the MAGA echo chamber needs to hear something I’ll make plain.
Charlie Kirk was a racist bigot.
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, is a racist bigot. His office doesn’t preclude him from being one.
Charlie Kirk being a victim of the gun violence he denied does not erase the fact that he was a racist bigot.
When an arsonist burned Germany’s Reichstag building, the Nazis used the opportunity to consolidate power, silence enemies and destroy their democracy.
Republicans are doing it right now, but it’s difficult to recognize in real time. Make no mistake, it is happening. Republicans are normalizing Authoritarianism.
Unidentifiable armed gangs from different law enforcement agencies are snatching people off the streets and taking them away. This is abnormal, abhorrent, and everything the Constitution is supposed to protect us from.
But Republicans are normalizing Authoritarianism, and it will soon get much, much worse as more federal agents are quickly hired, poorly trained, and rushed onto our city streets.
White supremacists in Washington are white-washing American history to ignore the millions of victims of white supremacy. By minimizing, rewriting, or simply ignoring the racism in American history, they make it easier to support and implement racist policies.
It’s important to remember American children murdered by white men who believed their way of life was under attack.
Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Denise McNair and Carole Robertson
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“We’re not hiring based on merit anymore,” Kirk said. “We’re hiring based on race.”
It appears I need to explain that this is inherently racist, because it 1.) ignores America’s history of slavery, Jim Crow and segregation when 100% of white applicants “had merit” and Black Americans were rejected because they were black; 2.) implies that a Black American is less qualified than a white.
White America’s fixation on DEI, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, is inherently racist, because those who oppose it, fail to see the racism inherent in the system.
Trump’s attack on DEI demonstrates his racism: he has removed multiple Black Americans from office, because they are black.
The sports world lost a hero this summer when MLB Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg succumbed to cancer. The Chicago Cub was my favorite player back in the day. Click here or the image below to read my remembrance.
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My local community experienced a loss this summer with the killing of a beloved local actor.
On Aug. 2, Adam Turck intervened in a domestic dispute while walking his dog on a bright, sunny day in Richmond, Va. A 19-year-old pulled a handgun, shot Adam and turned the gun on himself. Two more senseless gun deaths in a nation that values guns more than lives.
Adam Turck, seated center, me in the blue blazer, and the cast and crew of Dial M for Murder, April 27, 2025.
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In the past I avoided lumping all Republicans into the rabid MAGA mob and painting them all with the same brush. Not anymore. The Grand Old Party of Ronald Reagan and John McCain is as dead as Abraham Lincoln.
The Republican Party, the U.S. government and mainstream Christianity have been taken over by radical fascists more dedicated to power than to democracy. They are destroying our country faster than we realize and they are trying to kill us all in the name of Jesus.
Sept. 15 marks the anniversary of the 1963 terrorist bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. The bombing was committed by white supremacists.
White supremacists in Washington are white-washing American history to ignore the millions of victims of white supremacy. They minimize, rewrite, or simply ignore the racism in American history, making it easier to support and implement racist policies today.
I’ll write about this in a few weeks.
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Please enjoy, save and share these memes I created recently.
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If you’ve left a church in frustration or you’ve never been to church before, If you don’t have a faith community or you’re the pastor of a church, I’d love to help you grow in your faith.
I’d love to come speak to your church or gathering of like-minded friends from work or school.
I’m available to preach on a Sunday, share a presentation, or lead a discussion to help us grow spiritually.
It doesn’t have to be the traditional 11 a.m. Sunday morning service time; A weekday evening or weekend afternoon may work for your unique situation.
Send me a message and we’ll find a date that works. We like to drive to speaking engagements and tour the country as we travel, so please don’t hesitate to reach out.
God is still working in the world and in your life, exactly where you are right now.
On June 10, I’ll be in D.C. with other faith leaders, clergy, and moral advocates from across the country for A Pentecost Witness for a Moral Budget. I’ll share live reports on Facebook and will write about it next month. Click the image to learn more.
I created Faith on the Fringe for those of us trying to live our faith on the fringe of the mainstream culture. If you’ve left a church in frustration or you’ve never been to a church before, God is still working in the world, exactly where you are right now.
If you don’t have a faith community, I’d love to help you create one.
Gather a group of 15 or 20 like minded folks from work, school, your club, or group.
Find a library meeting room, community room, club house, or even your home (if it’s large enough), and schedule a meeting. A weekday early evening or weekend afternoon will work, it doesn’t have to be the traditional 11 a.m. Sunday morning service time.
Send me a message, and we’ll find a date that works. I like to drive to speaking engagements and tour the country as I travel, so please don’t hesitate to reach out.
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I created these memes in May. Feel free to save and share them.
Please join us May 18, when I’m preaching at Yanceyville Christian Church in Lousia, Va.
April found me acting in Virginia Repertory Theater’s Dial “M” for Murder at the Historic Hanover Tavern, in Hanover, Virginia.
Alfred Hitchcock’s famous murder mystery began as a play. This version re-envisions a wife ending an affair and a jealous husband spinning a web of suspicion and deception.
I played Inspector Hubbard as a British Columbo, in my first professional play and only my third play since college.
Here’s a live talk I gave between the matinee and evening performance at Hanover Tavern.
Follow the link below for my thoughts on being present in the moment, spiritually and as a professional performer on stage with other actors in front of 145 people.
I would love to speak at your worship service, or other program, virtually or in person. Find 15 or 20 friends or neighbors, and a place for us to gather, and please send me a message.
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If you’re interested, here’s my personal Facebook page, where you can follow my daily activities.
I was rather busy in March, so I didn’t do much writing.
I’m currently performing in Virginia Repertory Theatre’s DIAL M FOR MURDER at the Historic Hanover Tavern, in Hanover, Virginia.
Alfred Hitchcock’s famous murder mystery is re-envisioned. After his wife ends an affair, a jealous husband spins a web of suspicion and deception that ensnare them both in danger, recrimination and murder.
I play a British Columbo. We run through April 27.
Use promo code REPFIVE for $5 off. Enter it in the promo code box before you select your tickets.
If you come see the show, please send a message backstage, so I can come out and say hello.
On March 13, I answered the question “How do Christians Respond to Donald Trump?”
Trump Christians have been manipulated for decades into believing they can’t be Christian and Democrat, so the default response for many American Christians is to support a Republican, even when the Republicans are profane liars and the opposite of Jesus in every way.
“At least he’s not a Democrat,” isn’t a Biblically based justification to support policies that harm the weakest.
Trump Christians are comfortable in their persecution of others, it’s up to us to hold them to the standard they claim – the standard Jesus asks of us.
Churches today can learn 3 lessons from the early Celtic Church. More than 1,500 years ago the natives of Ireland were polytheist pagans who would consider themselves ‘spiritual;’ much like the growing group of unchurched Americans. Ireland and the other British islands were on the furthest edge of the Roman Empire, and the furthest reach of Christianity. Christian monasteries were established across Ireland under the Bishop Palladius.
I resigned from my church the final Sunday of 2024.
I left the pulpit just before Trump took office because I realized that if law enforcement came to arrest our neighbors who replaced our roof, rather than offer sanctuary, my congregation would hold the door open. Follow the link to read more about my decision.
If you’re not loving your neighbor, if you oppose initiatives to help poor, hungry children, if you support programs and legislation that victimize others, you simply aren’t Christian.
You may be born again, baptized and sitting in church every week, but you’re praying to yourself because you’re not doing what Jesus says to do.
Jesus warns Christofascists – repeatedly – that they must take care of others, or Jesus will say, “I never knew you.” Which is only fair, because Christofascists obviously don’t know Jesus.
It’s been a month since the passing of President Jimmy Carter on Dec. 29. I wrote about him here and here.
As Carter’s funeral procession passed in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol, I did a live video and then a second.
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I resigned from my church the last Sunday in December. Here’s an excerpt from my final sermon:
Politicians tell us that Spanish speaking people from Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala, or Mexico are streaming into the United States – massive migrations, especially around election time – streaming into the United States, to take our tax dollars and get stuff for free. That’s what the politicians say, that’s what people say online. Donald Trump said that immigrants were eating people’s pets. Immigrants eating people’s cats and dogs. Donald Trump was lying, of course. Immigrants don’t eat people’s dogs and cats. Repeat the lie often enough, and the truth will get drowned out.
Politicians and cable news lie about immigrants, and they want us to believe the lies. Believe the lies, not what we see with our own eyes.
And what do we see with our own eyes? Spanish speaking men climbing all over this roof, working hard and fast and doing a good job, for an employer who trusts them and whom we trust to do the work well and at the quoted price.
What do we see with our own eyes? Spanish speaking neighbors and their kids passing us in the aisle at Walmart – mothers and children. Families. Just like ours.
What do we see with our own eyes? Families sitting quietly, eating at another table across the restaurant. Families, just like ours. Our neighbors.
Politicians and cable news tell us to fear these people, our neighbors. And I just can’t do that, because the Bible says to love them. Jesus says to love them.
In the coming months and throughout 2025, Present Trump intends to spend billions of our tax dollars to arrest and deport our neighbors who don’t have the proper paperwork. Six months from now, the men who installed the new church roof could all be deported to other countries, along with their wives and children. Their children, born in the United States, may be deported to foreign countries they’ve never been to. Never even heard of.
In this Facebook live video I talk about Martin Luther King Jr., racism and why I stepped down from my church: https://fb.watch/xplG60kX7f/
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Here’s another Facebook live video I did at Saint John’s Episcopal Church, where slave owner Patrick Henry said, “give me liberty or give me death” without the least bit of self-awareness. https://fb.watch/xqD0aeiB7J/
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On Jan 22, Bishop Mariann Budde offered A Service of Prayer for the Nation and told truth to power. MAGA was enraged to hear a woman minister quote the Bible and ask for mercy in the name of God.
Lines in Christianity are being drawn. American Christianity isn’t arguing over baptism and communion, but about justice and mercy. The line is between those who read the Bible and try to follow Jesus, and those who ignore everything the Bible says and follow Trump.
Trump is living proof that his so-called Christian supporters have a broken theology.
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Click the photo below to visit my suggested reading list for Celtic Christianity and progressive Christianity.
I’m now on Bluesky, the growing social media platform that isn’t owned by a white supremacist. Follow me there.
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I’m available to speak at your worship service, or other program, virtually or in person. Please contact me to discuss options. I’m available through Feb. 23 and then have availability after April 27, 2025.
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Thanks for following Faith on the Fringe. Keep the faith.
I’ll be in Washington D.C. for the state funeral and will do a Facebook live video during the service on Jan. 9. (Follow Faith on the Fringe for updates.) Carter will depart the U.S. Capitol at 9 a.m. The motorcade then travels to Washington National Cathedral for a brief arrival ceremony at 9:30 a.m., followed by the National Funeral Service at 10 a.m.
Upon conclusion of the service, Carter and his family will travel by motorcade at 11:15 a.m. to Joint Base Andrews, where they board Special Air Mission 39 to carry him home to Georgia.
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Also on Dec. 29, I stepped down from the church I have pastored for the past four years.
The simple reason is I no longer feel called by God to be there. Too many in ministry stay in congregations after they lose their sense of calling, to the detriment of the congregation and the pastor. So I stepped down. I’ll write more about it in the coming weeks.
I’m available to preach or speak at your worship service, or other program, virtual or in person. Please contact me to discuss options.
I am available Sundays Jan. 12 through Feb. 23, and then I’m available after April 27, 2025.
If you appreciate my work and shop Amazon, you can place orders through this link and I’ll receive a commission. You can bookmark it, and come back to it again and again. I appreciate your support.
On Nov. 14, I visited Duke Divinity School, and met with the Rev. Dr. Will Willimon. Walking with him from the chapel where he preached, to his office where he taught, to lunch, the mail room, back to his office and out to the car, he was constantly greeted by everyone we passed. Most people addressed him as, “Bishop.”
On Nov. 24, I met Amanda Tyler and Jonathan Davis, with the Baptist Joint Committee. BJC is behind the group Christians Against Christian Nationalism. The Baptist tradition, like all Anabaptists, faced religious persecution in its early days. Staying true to their Baptist roots, BJC advocates for religious freedom for all Americans. BJC has a lot of important work to do.
Johnathan and I attended seminary around the same time, and it was great meeting him and talking about mutual friends and acquaintances. It was also wonderful to catch up with Dr. Dan Bagby, who was among my most important influences in seminary. I’m glad I took the opportunity to tell him how much of an impact he had on my life and ministry.
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If you appreciate my work and shop Amazon, you can place orders through this link and I’ll receive a commission. You can bookmark it, and come back to it again and again. I appreciate your support.
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Boxes of Rain is Americana artifacts spanning music, culture and history for you who are on the road. Because life is for learning. I share music to mementos, from Grateful Dead to Dead & Company (two different bands), to New Potato Caboose (the band).
I’d love to share my message of being a Christian Deadhead with your faith community.
I’m available to preach or speak at an evening event, worship service, or other program, virtual or in person. Feel free to contact me to discuss options.
I have available dates Jan. 5 through Feb. 23, and then I’m available after May 4, 2025.
I’d love to talk about my life as a Deadhead, both before and after finding Jesus.
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Thanks for following Faith on the Fringe. Keep the faith.
I keep thinking about the story of Benjamin Franklin leaving the Constitutional Convention in Independence Hall.
“Well, Doctor what have we got—a republic or a monarchy,” Elizabeth Willing Powel is said to have asked.
“A republic,” Franklin replied, “if you can keep it.”
It looks like we can’t keep it. After years of manipulation and misinformation, the majority of Americans voted away our republic and elected a man who promises to be a dictator on day one.
From 1787 to 2025, the American democracy lasted longer than most.
I wish I was being hyperbolic, but I’ve read Trump v. United States, handed down by Trump’s stacked Supreme Court. On July 1, the court tossed the president the keys to the United States, with nearly no safeguards in place.
The American people put him in the driver’s seat.
There will be nothing – nothing – stopping Trump from doing anything he wants, including staying in office for as long as he chooses. He, or Vance, will simply dispute and ‘investigate’ the next presidential election and refuse to leave.
Trump has no regard for democracy, a free press, or civil liberties and he’ll continue to attack all of them until his hate-filled, fat-soaked heart finally stops beating.
How did we arrive here? How did the country select a convicted felon and serial sexual assaulter to be president?
Decades of indoctrination –
“At least he’s not a democrat.”
“Democrats aren’t Christian.”
“Democrats kill babies.”
“You can’t be Christian and be pro-choice.”
I believed that with abortion on the ballot, pro-choice voters would put Harris over the top. I was mistaken.
People voted for reproductive rights in their states and then voted for Trump to continue to dismantle reproductive rights nationwide.
In Arizona, for example, 1,776,031 people voted to protect reproductive rights, but Harris received only 1,401,830 votes.
I didn’t expect that. Did anyone? And it happened in state after state.
Pundits claim the economy was the factor – public misperception of the strongest economy in the world was the reason Americans chose to vote for a felon rather than a black woman. That makes for a simple story, but it’s not accurate.
The economy, or any other excuse you choose, isn’t the reason the majority of Spanish speaking Americans voted for the man who has promised to deport the families of Spanish speaking Americans.
Gender and race were the reason that American voters turned to Trump. Twice. Everything else is an excuse, justification or rationalization to choose a man who’s been impeached twice.
If Democrats had held an open nominating convention after President Biden stepped down, then perhaps they could have nominated a man, because nearly ANY man would have beaten the felon.
American voters don’t want a woman president and they certainly don’t want a black woman president.
According to the Associated Press:
“David Means, a purchasing manager in Atlanta who is Black, abstained from voting in the election because he did not feel either Harris or Trump was making the right appeals to Black men. But the results of the election did not disappoint him.
“‘I’m satisfied with the result. I don’t feel slighted. I wasn’t let down. I wasn’t pulling for Trump or Kamala, but I did not want a woman in that position,’ he said. And if it were to be a woman, Means said, ‘I’d rather have a really strong and smart woman, for example, like Judge Judy.’”
Means referred to the felon by his last name, and the woman, the Vice President of the United States, by her first name. The sexism is subtle but prevalent. And so, Means, and 12 million exactly like him, simply sat out this election.
The U.S. has a long history of sexism and racism. Black Americans have been allowed to freely vote for 60 years. White women have been voting for 105 years. White, wealthy, male, Virginians have had the right to vote since 1619 – three years after William Shakespeare died.
The U.S. is dominated by white, wealthy men, and it’s about to get much worse for everyone else – including the poor whites who voted for the felon.
I live in a different country than I had hoped for. American voters want to live in a country led by a racist, sexist, convicted felon rather than a black woman.
I had hoped I lived in 2024 but in reality we’re living in 1924.
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If you appreciate my work, and you shop on Amazon anyway, you can place orders through this link and I’ll receive a commission. You can bookmark it, and come back to it again and again. I appreciate your support.
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I published this blog shortly before the election:
A detail from the Sphere performance of Dead & Company, July 6, 2024.
Boxes of Rain is Americana artifacts spanning music, culture and history for you who are on the road. Because life is for learning. I share music to mementos, from Grateful Dead to Dead & Company (two different bands), from CSNY to Joni Mitchell (who dated at least half of CSNY) to Dylan and Baez . . . that sort of vibe.
I didn’t stop being a Dead Head when I became a Christian.
I’d love to speak with your group or church. I can speak at an evening event, worship service, or other program, virtual or in person. Feel free to contact me to discuss options. I’d love to talk about my life as a Deadhead, both before and after finding Jesus.
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Thanks for following Faith on the Fringe. Keep the faith.
Here in the United States, election day is Nov. 5.
I’ve been writing a lot about Donald Trump, trying to help Trump Christians understand the sad mistake they are making by supporting him.
Trump is the most profane, godless man to run for national office, and Trump Christians support him because he’s not a democrat. Christianity has been co-opted by ungodly people on the radical right.
I created Faith on the Fringe to help nonbelievers see God in their lives. A reason they can’t see God is because political operatives have co-opted Christianity. They took over the Southern Baptist Convention and colleges, they’ve taken over a significant segment of Christianity, and they are working very hard to take over the country.
It’s a type of nationalism, fascism and authoritarianism ensconced in a false, unbiblical pseudo-Christianity.
Election day Nov. 5 is the only thing protecting freedom in the U.S.
That’s the bad news. Now the good news.
Since the Trump-stacked, U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, abortion has been on the ballot in seven states. In each of those elections the majority of voters supported the right of women to control their own bodies. Seven for seven.
According to Pew Research: “About six-in-ten Americans (63%) say abortion should be legal in all or most cases. This share has grown 4 percentage points since 2021 – the year prior to the 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned Roe.”
The number of pro-choice voters are increasing while the number of forced birth proponents are decreasing. (I suspect a lack of vaccinations is hastening their demise.)
How many new voters has Taylor Swift helped register? Half a million? A million? Do you think most Swifties want control of their own bodies?
In Missouri, a slim majority of those polled oppose women’s freedom, so the “Show Me State” may be the first to break the national streak.
In Florida, 56% of adults support the reproductive freedom of women. The Constitutional amendment there must pass by 60%. Republican lawmakers don’t think it will. I think it will pass. Trump will lose. Sen. Rick Scott will lose, and I’ll go to bed, because it will portent how the rest of the night will go.
I could be wrong. But I don’t think so. Do you know of many pro-choice Trump supporters?
Trump lost his first presidential race by 3 million votes and his second by 7 million. It’s possible he’ll lose this time by 10 million votes.
I intend to write much more about the unbiblical pseudo-Christians in the future, because they’re wrong.
I’d love to speak with your group or church. I can speak at an evening event, worship service, or other program, virtual or in person. Feel free to contact me to discuss options.
Faith on the Fringe 