Robert A. Black, Mathematical Storyteller

Back in ancient times, when I was married and trying to be an Evangelical - and not doing very well at either - I heard a lot of talk about "witnessing" . That is to say, essentially giving people a sales pitch inviting them to "accept Christ into their lives" (or "be washed in the blood of the lamb," for the more poetic types). Having been raised a properly low-key Episcopalian (not to mention being an introvert), that kind of thing was just too weird for me. But I remember this one "tract," one of the little pamphlets you could buy and hand out to people as part of your routine. It depicted God as this brilliant light that was too wonderful to take your eyes away from, and it depicted non-Christians as standing with their backs to the light, stubbornly refusing to turn around and look. How ironic, then, that I find myself thinking of this tract when it comes to the people who want to Make America Great Again, many of who are white Evang...

The fate of this country - perhaps the fate of the entire world - will be decided by white Americans. When the media talks about America being "deeply divided," they mean white America. Americans of color may not be unanimous on anything, but you can't say they're "deeply divided" when ninety percent or so are on the same side. The fate of the entire world ? Seriously? Yes, seriously. Most times, that would be hyperbole, but in this case one of the things at stake is control of enough nuclear firepower to blow up civilization several dozen times over. What's also at stake is control of an economy large enough for its energy choices to tip the global climate balance one way or another. So yes, the fate of the world. Seriously. My fellow white Americans, it's all on us. Again and again lately, I've been hearing and reading commentators saying that the people Red State Americans really don't like are... white Blue State America...

During the years I spent trying (and failing) to be an Evangelical, I found a lot of stuff written about "The End Times," and the coming of the Antichrist. Everyone had a different idea about who the Antichrist was, where he would appear, and so on, but there's one thing everyone felt pretty confident about. The "real" Christians (assuming they hadn't all been carried away by the Rapture) would know who the Antichrist was. The Antichrist wouldn't be able to fool a "real" Christian - which is to say, of course, an Evangelical. So it strikes me as sadly ironic that the most anti-Christian figure we've seen in generations of American politics is so adored by the white Evangelical community. Note that I'm not saying Trump is the Antichrist. The Book of Revelation is a tricky thing, so I'm not even sure there will ever actually be someone who is the Antichrist. But Trump is close enough, if not because of his own moral bankr...