Verba Sparsa
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Trump is becoming dictator
Peter Wehner clearly states the case that Trump is in the process of making himself a dictator (“authoritarian” national leader).
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What Angela Rigas said about the protestors at her house
A legal and moral examination of Angela Rigas’s response to a peaceful protest outside her home—what the law says, what her rhetoric reveals, and what leadership should look like.
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Priority Health, Integrity Insurance, and MAGA provocations
Does Priority Health support or condone the identification of its brand with MAGA and anti-LGBTQ provocations? What does the selling of insurance have to do with partisan-political trash talking? Integrity Insurance in Dutton, at the corner of Hanna Lake and 68th Street, has a sign on its building that rotates through a sequence of messages.…
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Two betrayals of Caledonia students, teachers, residents
The president of the Caledonia Community Schools Board of Education, Tim Morris, has served for years, and he has done some genuine good. At some level he has meant well. But he has recently shown himself to be an untrusting and untrustworthy trustee. To keep things simple, my own comments below point to two recent…
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About the Lowell lawsuit: an open letter to the Caledonia school board
The defamation lawsuit filed by a Lowell Schools librarian recalls false statements against books and teachers in Caledonia.
Keep readingClarifying the issues in the Caledonia anti-masking and Kallman proposals
Dear trustees of Caledonia Community Schools, I have seen some of the replies that board president Tim Morris is sending to some who have written to the board expressing opposition to the masking policy and the “constitutional law firm” proposal. Those replies are useful for clarifying several points. The district’s responsibility to students is to…
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A social-media post raises ethical questions for the Caledonia school board
This three-minute comment, given in the March 17, 2025, meeting of the Board of Education of Caledonia Community Schools, is a follow-up to “How not to prepare for the next epidemic.” The board chair is Tim Morris, who in the last several years has become a political ally or operative of State Representative Angela Rigas,…
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How not to prepare for the next epidemic: an open letter to the Board of Education of Caledonia Community Schools
A letter urging the Board of Education of Caledonia Community Schools not to adopt an unwise and possibly illegal policy and waste our money lawyering up to defend it.
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A failure of hospitality is a grave failure (taking a cue from Timothy Snyder)
Timothy Snyder identified failure of hospitality as the first of five failures in the outrageous Trump-Vance reception of Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the White House. This post explores the seriousness of hospitality failure from a biblical, Christian point of view.
Keep readingHow to stay informed
Several friends have aske me where I get news these days. They just wanted a couple of suggestions. Of course I couldn’t just do that. I wrote something longer. But then I went back and made a short cersion. So there’s the short version, then the long version. This is all off the cuff. SHORT…
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2024 election wrap-up: Caledonia (MI) Community Schools
My wrap-up on the 2024 school-board election, starting from a small note from Florida with a big tie-in to Caledonia. It’s all about this question: should school-board elections be partisan or nonpartisan? Education won a small victory in Florida, where education very much needs some victories: voters rejected an initiative to make school board elections…
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An important announcement: I am not changing my Facebook profile pic
So many questions this morning. Some huge, some trivial. I cannot deal with the big questions right now. So I give you my answer to a trivial question that you did not ask: I am not changing my Facebook profile picture. The “Love Anyway” hat stays. It feels heavier and tighter. I felt a powerful…
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All Saints in an election year
Not much of a story, but it’s true. I failed to get the whole story. I wish I had asked more questions, but I didn’t want to be any more intrusive than I already had been. Friday evening around 7, when I was getting home from work, a light-colored minivan that preceded me up Glengarry…
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Always Running: sex, integrity, and Caledonia Community Schools
An unusual little speech by State Representative Angela Rigas in a recent school board meeting in Caledonia, MI, raises questions about the purpose of books in high school and about the importance of integrity in public leaders.
Keep readingThe Threat Angela Rigas Poses to Caledonia Community Schools
A guest post exposing the legal/financial risk voters would take by giving Angela Rigas allies a majority on the board of the Caledonia Community Schools district.
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Christian Nationalism and Christian Zionism vs. Christian Scripture
In every attempt to merge Christianity and nationalism, the nationalism dominates and distorts the Christianity, because nationalism is about domination, while the way of Jesus Christ is self-sacrificial servanthood.
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Again with “parental rights”: the return of a dog whistle
Here we go again. Campaign by dog whistle. How much did it cost Jessica Kohn to spam her little campaign plug into my iMessages account? And who paid for it? But she sent it to me, and I will respond. The first sentence of the message in the screenshot carries all the weight: Jessica Kohn…
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A text and a question (2 Chronicles 15:13)
There is nothing special about this text. It just happened to come up today in the course of my reading and rereading my favorite book. Many other Old Testament texts have similar features. But as you will see, if you read on, this text, read in light of current events, left me with a question. …
Keep readingA text and a question (2 Chronicles 15:13)
There is nothing special about this text. It just happened to come up today in the course of my reading and rereading my favorite book. Many other Old Testament texts have similar features. But as you will see, if you read on, this text, read in light of current events, left me with a question. …
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Hearing “The Partisan” in St. Malo
American reflections on visiting the French coastal city reduced to rubble in All the Light We Cannot See
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Inviting Jesus (Mark 2:13–17)
We are to invite, and to offer a Jesus who invites: an inviting Jesus.
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Longing for Zion (Psalm 72)
Ask me to declare myself a Zionist when you can show me Zion. I am not seeing it yet.
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Does the gospel have implications for society?
CNN’s John Blake, in an article that you should read, calls attention to how UAW president Shawn Fain drew upon his Christian faith, and on words of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, to fortify the courage of auto workers headed into the recently concluded strike. It’s a good article. For friends who know where…
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The strong, the weak, and the church’s sex-and-gender crisis (Romans 15:1–7)
How does Romans 15:1–7 bear on the question of full welcome for gays in the church?
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Eliminationist homophobia in Ottawa County
Most eliminationist homophobes would be aghast at any suggestion that they are promoting genocide, but from the hateful speech that we hear from some of them, even in public places such as our school board meetings, I believe that some of them, if given access to a button which if pushed would instantly obliterate 400…
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MI Campaign Finance Complaint 23-031
The history to date of MI Campaign Finance Complaint 23-031 (Ernest v. Hardy)
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Remembering Tim Keller
Here’s a gift link to the story the Washington Post just put up about the death of Tim Keller: https://wapo.st/41Rt8wg. As a subscriber, I can create gift links that allow nonsubscribers to read. So there you go. But I want to say a couple of things too. The article says: “Dr. Keller was 24 when…
Keep readingDemocracy, Christianity, abortion
Wednesday night’s post by Heather Cox Richardson (you should read it) illustrates the central problematic in American politics: the alliance between fascist-leaning politics and selected conservative Christian values pertaining to sex. With my background, I can see clearly that antipathy toward abortion always has been and always must be a feature of authentic Christian faith.…
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Rufo has dropped his mask. Can we move on now?
Here you have it, friends. In his latest blog post, the pseudo-intellectual-in-chief of the control-or-destroy-public-schools movement states his strategy. I was going to say “explicitly” but of course it’s veiled in a fabric of faux-learned (Look, people! I know that Aristotle used a Greek word!) feints and fabrications, powered by appeals to the basest racial…
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Two paths diverge: positive and negative examples at the February school board meeting
The February 2023 meeting of our community’s school board offered both positive and negative examples of how to talk together.
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Everyone Needs Compassion
At the monthly meetings of the Board of Education of Caledonia Community School, members of the public are allowed to make three-minute addresses to the trustees. Here is what I said tonight. Two words from me tonight: compassion and sex. Compassion comes first. And last. I know a song: “Everyone needs compassion.” It’s true. Life…
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State rep too blinded by partisanship to show compassion over latest mass shooting
The title of this post is not my own creation. It was supplied by The Sun and News when this essay was printed in today’s edition in Letters from Our Readers. It accurately captures the central point. Again with the killings. Again, a person who under any sane regulatory system would not have been permitted…
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abortion Angela Rigas Bible board of education Caledonia Community Schools Christianity & politics Christian nationalism Christotrumpism Covid-19 CRT deception delusion Democratic Party Eerdword faith fascism Heather Cox Richardson idolatry inerrancy Jesus Joe Biden John Brandow LGBTQ lies Luke news patriotism Paul (Apostle) prayer Psalm 1 Psalms Putin racism Republican Party School Board Scripture self-examination Tim Morris Timothy Snyder Trump Trumpianity Trumpism truth Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Zionism
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Verba Sparsa 