Evangelicals for Biden

Suddenly they are coming out of the woodwork: Evangelicals for Biden.

Here's the Washington Post story on them in early October:  "A new group of evangelical leaders forms in support of Biden."  Thank you to reporter Sarah Pulliam Bailey.  

"Republicans don't own 'pro-life' and they don't own evangelical," said John Huffman, former board chair of Christianity Today magazine. Huffman knows other evangelical leaders who would come out against Trump but their supporters would withdraw funding.

"We feel like we are speaking for a lot of evangelical leaders who are as intimidated as senators who have to support the president for reelection," he continued.

Abortion "is an issue that singlehandedly prevents them from voting for Biden," says Jerusha Duford, granddaughter of Billy Graham.

Here's a short list of some of the evangelicals coming out for Biden in this last month before the 2020 election.

Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden including:

• Joel Hunter, former pastor of a megachurch in Orlando FL
• Ron Sider
• Rich Mouw
• John Huffman, former board chair of CT & former pastor to Richard Nixon
• Jerushah Duford, who has written op-eds supporting Biden for Huff Post, the NYT, USA Today.

Black evangelical leaders including:

• Brenda Salter McNeil
• Bishop Claude Alexander
• John M. Perkins, civil rights activist

Evangelicals for Biden including

• Jim Ball, environmentalist & advisor to Ronald Reagan
• Rich Cizik, National Association of Evangelicals

Believers for Biden - part of the Biden campaign

Catholics for Biden - part of the Biden campaign

Other religious leaders and individuals for Biden:

• Daniel Coats, Director of National Intelligence, an evangelical quoted in Bob Woodward's Rage
• Josh Dickson, faith adviser to Biden and evangelical in large nondenominational church in Denver
• Rev. Gabriel Salguero, Latino evangelical
• Alison Siefert, interviewed on 1A Across America (WAMU NPR)

Groups who have invited Biden to speak:

• Progressive National Baptist Convention (African-American)
• Poor People's Campaign
• Online summit for Muslims

Holdouts who still support Trump:

Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, who opposed Trump in 2016, calling him "the great evangelical embarrassment"

Secular, Republican support for Biden:

The Lincoln Project

If you know of other evangelicals or religious groups supporting Biden, please make a note in the Comment Section below.

Pro-lifers voting for Biden

 Justin Taylor, dear, please listen to Alison Siefert speaking on 1A Across America: https://the1a.org/segments/voter-trump-biden/…. She's a Bible-believing Christian voting for #BidenHarris2020. But you claim that "it’s ordinarily a sin to vote for a pro-choice candidate" Not a sin to vote for Trump?

Why One Michigan Woman Is Voting For Biden After Voting For Trump | 1A

But this election cycle, Alison Siefert changed her mind. After voting for Donald Trump in 2016, she's now voting for Joe Biden. We talked to her about why.

Pro-lifers are one group who may decide the election either for Trump or for Biden.

Above is my tweet to Justin Taylor, a pro-life, women-in-submission-to-men Christian who is part of The Gospel Coalition (founded 2005) and in fact a member of its all-male Council.

Justin has taken upon himself the task of 'splaining to Christian women (and men?) why we should not vote for Joe Biden for president.

In 2016 he and his friends held many of us to voting for Trump because we thought we had to support an anti-abortion president to get more anti-abortion justices on the Supreme Court. No matter how much Trump boasted of sexual abuse or paid off women to be silent, we had to vote "pro-life" if we were genuine Christians.

Well, now that the Court is set in a conservative direction, maybe we can express our disgust for this fake president and vote for the Biden/Harris ticket. Right?

No. Justin mansplains to us that "it’s ordinarily a sin to vote for a pro-choice candidate" in his Oct. 6 blog post on the Gospel Coalition website. He wants us to vote for Trump, not Biden, even though the Supreme Court is safely locked up as ready to overturn Roe v. Wade.

It boggles my mind how a sincere Christian can vote for a president who so openly defies God's word. Alison Siefert explained it, however, when she was interviewed for 1A Across America produced by WAMU for National Public Radio. She has long been a single-issue voter (pro-life) and a Republican.

But this year it got too hard for her to overlook all of Trump's mean, self-centered, race-baiting, covid-ignoring behavior--"contrary to everything I've learned about being a Christian." She studied her Bible and decided she needed to vote for Biden in this national emergency.

Voting for Trump "just didn't line up with what I believed about my Lord," she said.

Justin has thought about Alison's predicament, and he concludes (after struggling through 9 principles and a weird metaphor involving gear shifts) that when she votes for Biden, she is "probably sinning for her support of that candidate... But I would still affirm my willingness to come to the Lord’s Table with her."

"Oh, thank you, Justin! Thank you, thank you, for being willing to admit me to the common table," he imagines us Alisons saying. After all, he has decided that anyone who is "voting for the pro-choice candidate because of his or her support for abortion" deserves excommunication.

Forgive me, Justin, for in your view I have probably sinned. I edited a pro-choice book in 1994 called Abortion--My Choice, God's Grace: Christian Women Tell Their Stories (Pasadena, CA: Hope Publishing House). Perhaps that was before you were born.

Is my book a bigger sin than voting for Biden? I did that too.

Justin, my dear, could you please research whether it's a sin to vote for a racist?

Or to vote for a man who flaunts his adultery, fornication, pride, greed, wrath, envy, gluttony and sloth? (Remember the 7 deadly sins?)

Is it a sin to vote for a man who tells lies habitually?

We'd be so grateful if you could write a blog post on the consequences of voting for a person who boasts of these kinds of sin. Would you still break bread with us if we voted for a man like this?

By the way, I'd like to ask you one more question. How can you have a Gospel Coalition with no women on its Council? Jesus didn't operate that way. He walked through cities and villages "bringing the good news" with a crowd of men and women in leadership. Read Luke 8:2-3.

I'm concerned that your not viewing women and men as equals before God might be a sin. Have you ever read Galatians 3:28? "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus." The all-male Council of your Gospel Coalition may be sinning in excluding women.

To learn more about whether excluding women might be a sin, read All We're Meant To Be by Letha Dawson Scanzoni and Nancy Hardesty. Or visit the websites of CBE International and EEWC-Christian Feminism Today.

"Local news" sites paid for by GOP

 

A "local" news site - Photo from the NY Times website

You know what's scary?

Finding out that your local online news source--the one giving you convenient and interesting local stories--is actually part of a propaganda network: 

A nationwide operation of 1,300 local sites publishes coverage that is ordered up by Republican groups and corporate P.R. firms.

I heard about this phenomenon by listening to The Daily, a nightly 20-minute feature produced by the New York Times and aired on National Public Radio.  In its Oct. 28 edition, Davey Alba and Jack Nicas reported on their Oct. 18 news article about these "local news" sites that are actually Republican propaganda:

Yet the network, now in all 50 states, is built not on traditional journalism but on propaganda ordered up by dozens of conservative think tanks, political operatives, corporate executives and public-relations professionals, a Times investigation found.

The sites appear as ordinary local-news outlets, with names like Des Moines Sun, Ann Arbor Times and Empire State Today. They employ simple layouts and articles about local politics, community happenings and sometimes national issues, much like any local newspaper.

This network of websites is managed by Brian Timpone, who for 20 years has been making money on the decline of trusted, traditional local newspapers.

But there are other chains of "local" newspapers that are actually part of various international chains.

For example, my cousin sent me her father's obituary published in Newsbreak.  I know the local papers in Montrose, Telluride, Cortez, and Durango--and Newsbreak is not one of them.  So I checked to see whether it's legitimate.  

It's not.  Newsbreak is described by Enigma Software as a website that "spams users with a constant flow of advertisements" and even porn. It's owned by a corporation in China.

At first glance, the Newsbreak.com website appears to be a useful tool that would provide its visitors with the latest news. However, this is one of the countless bogus websites online that do not provide any content of value, and instead, seek to benefit from their visitors using various shady tricks.

Spams Users with a Constant Flow of Advertisements

Upon visiting the Newsbreak.com page, users will be asked to permit the site to display Web browser notifications. Keeping in mind that this fake page poses as a legitimate news website, many users may be tricked to allow browser notifications thinking that they will be alerted for the latest breaking news. However, this is not the case, certainly. As soon as a visitor allows this dodgy page to display Web browser notifications, they will be flooded with irrelevant and unwanted advertisements promoting all dubious content – from pornographic videos to fake dating websites and illicit streaming platforms. Some users may receive news updates, too, among all the advertisement notifications, but it is likely that the information provided by the Newsbreak.com site will not be relevant to their interests or their area.

Of course, Newsbreak wanted me to download its software in order to read the obituary. But after hearing the report on The Daily, I searched for info on Newsbreak before downloading.  I'm glad I didn't let this malware into my computer.

Wikipedia has an entry on Newsbreak, but it's flagged at the top as written by Newsbreak itself--clearly biased.  I submitted an edit for the Wikipedia entry, a warning, but no doubt it will be deleted as soon as Newsbreak notices it.

The South China Morning Post had this to say about Particle Inc., the Chinese corporation that owns Newsbreak.

Yep, the amount of pseudo news floating around is scary.  I can't even read this obit of my cousin's dad without hours of checking the website of this odd "local" news source I had never heard of before in my 70 years of connection to southwest Colorado.  It turns out to be Chinese-owned and spews a bunch of junk into your computer. 

Welcome to the 21st century, still in its infancy.

____________________ 

Here's what one person reports on Quora:

John McDonald

, former Ships Master and Pilot (Retired) (1958-2001)

Answered March 24, 2020 · Author has 112 answers and 547.6K answer views

I tried Newsbreak by accident, I must have accidently clicked a link. But since it somehow got installed on my phone I decided to see what it was like.

So for the past couple of weeks I have been bombarded with notifications presenting one story after another on my phone.

It contains mostly news stories that I have already seen on my local news sources. So much of what they offer is like watching reruns of old news.

It is loaded with misleading sucker ads that are designed to look like real news stories, so you have to look carefully for that fine print that says, “ad” or “sponsored” to avoid getting sucked in.

Those kinds of ads are mostly pay per click so every click makes them money. Many of the ads are trying to lure you into clicking tons of pages filled with a couple sentences of text but mostly ads. You can't see what the end of the story is until you have clicked “NEXT” 50 times.

I refuse to waste my time that way. If a story seems interesting, as soon as I see the first “NEXT” button I get out of there and just Google the story headline which usually easily found and read it from the original source which is likely where they got it in the first place.

But what finally made me uninstall Newsbreak was after I checked out some of the reader comments about a few stories.

Unlike Quora, Newsbreak readers seem to be the most ignorant and uneducated in the country.

Most of Newsbreak readers seem to be people with mouths larger than their brains offering baseless opinions, while calling other readers with equally baseless opposing opinions, patently offensive names using crude language consisting of mostly four letter words instead of presenting rational educated arguments supporting such opinions.

The last time I ever was exposed to comments on the level of Newsbreak readers was when I was on the elementary school playground at recess when no teacher was near.

It's target readership seems to be on the same level as a National Enquirer reader, so if you happen to love the Enquirer you will probably love Newsbreak.

Is Jesus a Republican?

 

"Maybe Jesus isn't a Republican," says Alison Siefert, an evangelical in Saginaw, Michigan, who voted for Trump in 2016 but is voting for Biden this year.

She's usually a single-issue voter and has been part of the prolife movement for a long time.

James C. Morrison interviewed her for 1A Across America this week on NPR. Listen to the interview: https://the1a.org/guests/alison-siefert/

"I was probably a liberal Republican--is that even a thing?  I want to support small businesses...but now the core things in the party are to hate the left and this idea of judicial legislation."

"I felt he was cheapening the office of the presidency with his constant name-calling and tweeting."  

"It didn't line up with what Jesus was like--the people that Jesus came to minister to.  It just didn't line up with what I believed about my Lord."

"Single-issue voting to me right now seems very short-sighted," she explains.  "I think we can't hide behind the red skirts any more.  I have a 'Republican Voters Against Trump' sign in my yard that gets knocked down regularly."

Thank you for your courage!  Your ability to express your views is admirable.

"You need to vote like your life depends on it because the nature of our country really does," she concludes.

A widow begs you...

Alice Roberts speaking on MSNBC

 

Alice Roberts lost her husband, age 45, to Covid-19 in May.

He was a police officer and father of her three kids.

She's now pleading with people: Vote!  And vote against Trump.  

In an opinion piece on NJ.com, she tells her family's story.  Initially she didn't blame Donald Trump.

But in September after surviving Covid-19 with the best medical help in the world, the president made light of the virus's effect on others.  That angers Alice.  

She writes:

After catching COVID-19 that required a brief stay in the hospital, President Trump blithely said, “Don’t let it take over your lives.” 

Except that the coronavirus had already changed her life forever.  

It has already killed 220,000 Americans.  It took over their lives and changed their families... while he was underplaying it and telling people not to wear masks.

Vote him out!  

"He has a reckless disregard for human life," said Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris at a rally in Milwaukee, quoting a statute in the California Criminal Code.

 

50 Shades of Scary

Black Bear Pass near Ingram Falls
Telluride CO 3,000 ft. below

So you think this presidential election is scary.  

You think Halloween is nothing compared to a government that flaunts its Covid bravado.

You feel a knot in your stomach when the president can't denounce QAnon or the Cutiepie Boys (I won't even repeat the real name of these thugs). 

You cringe when it takes several tries to get dt to say anything faintly against white supremacy.

Well, to cheer you up and distract you from these national horrors, let's take a Jeep ride.

First let's look at the cliff where a Jeep Wrangler fell off a popular road past spectacular waterfalls near Telluride, Colorado. 

Then read about the accident on Saturday, Oct. 10, as recorded by BleepinJeep.  

Then watch this half-hour YouTube video about a hailstorm and rockslides on this road on August 24, 2020.

See, you got your mind off the election for maybe 30 minutes or an hour.  

Voting from Assisted Living

My second cousin Deb with her grandmother,
Allene Winkfield Pera, now 105 years old.

 "Come hell or high water, I'm going to vote," says Annamarie Eggert, who is 94 years old and in precarious health.

For my friend Virginia Ramey Mollenkott, her two dying wishes were returning home from the hospital and making sure her mail-in ballot got mailed.  As soon as mail-in ballots were available, her caregiver with power of attorney drove to Morristown, New Jersey, picked up the ballot, voted it, and returned to report to Virginia that her votes were cast.  Virginia smiled with relief and died the next day, four months before her 89th birthday.

I'm not sure whether my family's oldest member, Allene Winkfield Pera (at right) will be able to vote this year.  She recently turned 105 and lives in Durango in an assisted living facility.  Covid-19 restrictions make it harder for her daughter to get her a mail-in ballot and return it.

Thank you to Katie Hafner of the New York Times for her report, "These Americans Are Determined to Cast a Last Ballot before Dying."  She writes,

In this most contentious of elections, in which the very act of voting has come under fierce national debate, the determination of many very old, ill and infirm Americans to cast what could be their last vote is profound.  

Though aware that they might not live long enough to be affected by the results, they say they are voting for children, grandchildren and their future — a final heartfelt, empowering act as American citizens.

Two days ago Eggert filled out her ballot for Joe Biden and for Sara Gideon, the Democratic nominee running against Senator Susan Collins.  A friend drove her to the city hall of York, Maine, to place her vote into the ballot drop box.

Hafner also spoke with Harriet Fefernan, born in 1920, the year women first won the right to vote. She cast her first presidential vote for Franklin D. Roosevelt.  

Kent Neff, 81, in Sisters, Oregon, said, "If I were going to die next week, voting would still be very high on my list."  Judy Welles, a retired pastor in Portland with terminal cancer, took time to write 15 postcards to voters in Pennsylvania, her former home.

“I’m not afraid to play the death card," she told Hafner.  "If that’s going to impress somebody into voting, that would be great.”

Cheers for Feminists in their 80s...

 

We have now lost Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Virginia Ramey Mollenkott, two of my favorite feminists in their 80s.  Gloria Steinem, b. 1934, and my friend Letha Dawson Scanzoni, b. 1935, remain. 

Born in 1933, Ruth was a year younger than Virginia, born in 1932.  Ruth died on September 18, then Virginia on Sept. 25.  In this 2015 photo (right) from a NYT interview, Ruth and Gloria discuss the long battle for women's rights.

My friend Letha Dawson Scanzoni, author of books on Christian feminism and on same-sex marriage blessed by God, celebrates her 85th birthday today, October 9. 

These women are irreplaceable.  Their courage and leadership changed the world.

They were born into a world where white women had been able to vote for only 12-16 years, and most black women and men encountered voter suppression if they tried to vote.  

Most women didn't have access to birth control, yet the nation was in the midst of the Great Depression.  Desperately poor women resorted to DIY abortions, like the ones described in Ch. 14 of my book, Abortion--My Choice, God's Grace.  

Each of these four women had only one sibling.  The parents of both Ruth and Virginia sent their son to college but not their daughter.  The girl child had to fight and work for the opportunity to get higher education.  Gloria was one of two girls, and Letha had just one brother.

Thank you to each of these four women.  You gave me the rights that I sometimes take for granted.  

Letha and Virginia gave me confidence that God wants equality for women and men, that Jesus and even the apostle Paul did not separate gender roles into men's and women's categories. "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all are one in Christ Jesus" (Letter to the Galatians 3:28)

Ruth and Gloria gave me the news that women and men are not treated equally in societies today, that we need to work for change.  That news changed my life.

"When you catch it, you get better"

when you catch it, you get better says the president.

Will these words be engraved on his tombstone?

Why can't he express sympathy for the families of the 212,000 who have died?

Has he forgotten Dr. Herman Cain, who faithfully attended his campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma,  on June 20 and died on July 30?

Why can't he express good wishes for Chris Christy, former governor of New Jersey?  Christy has been lying in a hospital bed for six days now after helping to prepare Trump for his debate on Sept. 29.

Lies like "you get better" are apparent to many Americans, but they are believed by many others.

We'll find out on November 3 how many believe him. 

Thank you to Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman of the New York Times for their consistently good reporting on the 45th president.for these last four years.

Our president didn't express support for Wisconsin Governor Gretchen Whitmer when her would-be killers were arrested.  Instead, he said "She didn't thank me for preventing white terrorists from kidnapping her.

Here's what historian Jon Meacham tweeted yesterday:

Jon Meacham

@jmeacham

·

19h

Those Americans who’ve stood with this President will spend decades denying it—or pretending it didn’t happen. We’ve seen this before, with the Joe McCarthys and the Bull Connors. There’s still time to do the right thing—vote him out and let’s move on.

Quote Tweet

Donald J. Trump

@realDonaldTrump

· 20h

Governor Whitmer of Michigan has done a terrible job. She locked down her state for everyone, except her husband’s boating activities. The Federal Government provided tremendous help to the Great People of Michigan. My Justice Department and Federal Law Enforcement announced...

"There's still time to do the right thing."

"Vote him out and let's move on" to deal with the pandemic, the economy,  the Affordable Care Act, and our lives.