Several readers have asked for my thoughts about Muslims in the United States. Certainly, a topic worth exploring, especially today. Although some historians suggest that there were Muslims on Columbus’ ships, the first clearly documented arrival of Muslims in America occurred in the 17th century with the arrival of slaves from Africa. Most originated from heavily Islamized regions of West Africa, including modern-day Senegal, Mali, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Gambia.

Today Muslims make up about 25.6% of the total world population. Islam is the world’s second largest and fastest-growing religion, growing twice as fast as the non-Muslim population, forecasted to grow faster than Christianity by 2050. Currently, Christianity is the worlds largest religious tradition with 31% of the global population.

In the United States, Islam is the third-largest religion, representing roughly 1.1% to 1.3% of the total population. Most Muslims in the U.S. live in major urban metropolitan areas. Key centers include New York City and its surrounding region, forming the largest overall hub. Detroit (especially Dearborn, Michigan), hosts the highest concentration of Arab Americans and Muslims. Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, and the Twin Cities (Minneapolis–St. Paul) feature vibrant community networks, mosques, and halal services.

Christianity is still the largest religion in the United States. Pew Research Center reports that 62% of U.S. adults identify as Christian, a number that has largely stabilized after years of decline. Judaism is the second-largest religion in the US, practiced by 2% of the population.

Twenty-five years since the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, the Council on American-Islamic Relations reports that U.S. American Muslims still endure record discrimination and marginalization. The September 11^th terrorist attacks  were carried out by al-Qaeda, an extremist group that claimed to act for Islam, though the vast majority of the world’s Muslims and Islamic leaders strongly condemned the violence.

Today’s incumbent U.S. president and his Islamophobic staff members have shown a lack of response to the rise in U.S. hate crimes targeting Muslims. The president has described Democratic candidates in the midterm U.S. elections as “jihadists” in an apparent reference to Abdul El-Sayed, who is the Democratic nominee in the 2026 United States Senate election in Michigan

Islam is one of the three historic Abrahamic religions — Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The founder of Islam was the Arab religious, social, and political leader Muhammad (c.570 – 632 CE). According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monotheistic teachings of Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets.

An historic perspective is important. The Islamic Golden Age, from the eighth to the thirteenth century CE, was a period during which science, literature, geometry, astronomy, and other fields of knowledge flourished. During this Golden Age, some of the most significant advances in medieval scholarship were made by Muslim scholars. Muslim conquerors had come into possession of numerous Greek and Roman manuscripts. Muslim scholars carefully preserved them and translated them, especially philosophic and scientific works. Without the preservation and translation work of Muslim scholars during this period, much of ancient Greek knowledge would have been lost forever. Algebra, which comes from an Arabic word, was developed during the period. We owe our numerals to Arabic scholars. And a great many stars were discovered and astronomical theories developed by Muslim scholars during this Islamic Golden Age.

Nevertheless, according to the Pew Research Center, many contemporary US Americans have negative views about Muslims and Islam. About 50% say they do not personally know anyone who is Muslim and know “not much” or “nothing at all” about Islam. Yet they have strong anti-Muslim feelings. U.S. Americans, however, who are not Muslim, but personally know someone who is Muslim, are more likely to have a positive view of Muslims and less likely to believe that Islam encourages violence more than other religions. 

As a Christian theologian, I have worked for decades, promoting inter-religious dialogue and understanding, especially with men and women belonging to all three Abrahamic religions. A few years ago, I was a key speaker at a gathering of about 70 imams in Brussels. The topic was freedom of expression. And it went very well. Reactions to a great many questions and responses were positive. And I also learned a lot. In fact, I told my audience I was not there to teach but to listen. I told them I was concerned that Islamophobia is hard to combat. Far too often, if a person calls for a factual and well-researched understanding of Islam, that person is often labeled “unpatriotic,” or simply “dangerous.”

Anti-Muslim groups frequently pull passages from the Quran as evidence that Islam promotes violence. Prophet Muhammad did not promote violence during the first thirteen years of his mission in Mecca. Historical accounts show that Muhammad and his followers practiced patience and refused to retaliate with physical force during this time. 

Politically and religiously motivated violence in Islam originated in 7th-9th century CE. A major shift occurred in the late 1970s. The year 1979 was a turning point in international terrorism.Events like the Iranian Islamic Revolution and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan helped create the modern network of trained militant Islamic groups.

Nevertheless, we need to remember that every religion has extremist elements. Far right Christian nationalist violence is increasing in the United States. And of course right now Christians are bombing and killing other Christians in Ukraine.

And we need to remember that Muslims, like Christians, interpret and follow the teachings of their religion under a variety of cultural influences. In progressive cultures, Muslim women can rise to the tops of their professions as doctors, lawyers, and scholars. In conservative cultures, however, women may be prevented from participating fully in public life. In either case, this status may not be unique to Muslim women. Understanding cultural influences on all religions is particularly important, yesterday, and today.

Considering Christianity, Islam, and the world’s religions, I suggest we have to work together in what the Roman Catholic theologian, Paul Knitter (born 1939) has called a kind of “unitive pluralism.” Paul Knitter is American theologian, currently an emeritus professor at Union Theological Seminary, where he has served as the Paul Tillich Professor of Theology, World Religions and Culture since 2007. 

With “unitive pluralism” we need to move beyond a simple tolerance for other religions and develop a positive appreciation for what they have to offer…. Moving from tolerance to collaboration. From collaboration to genuine appreciation. From appreciation to learning from the other. 

Global understanding, anchored in inter-religious dialogue and collaboration, is essential for everyone’s life and future. Our goal does not have to be the reduction of all faiths into one. We do need to look for commonalities, different expressions, and understandings of the Sacred, and a base for common ethical responsibilities in a turbulent and anxious world. And yes, all participants in the conversation must remain humbly open to the challenges of mutual criticism and correction. No faith tradition has all the answers. We are all learning believers.

Inter-religious dialogue is not just something that is a courteous thing to do. It is appropriate and absolutely essential for our survival in a world of multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, and multinational interdependence. We cannot survive by “going it alone,” even if we think we are great. 

I conclude with a citation from the Declaration on Non-Christian Religions, from the Roman Catholic Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). “People expect from the various religions answers to the unsolved riddles of the human condition, which today, even as in former times, deeply stir the hearts of all men and women: What is the human person? What is the meaning, the aim of our life? What is moral good, and what is sin? Whence suffering and what purpose does it serve? Which is the road to true happiness? What are death, judgment, and retribution after death? What, finally, is that ultimate inexpressible mystery which encompasses our existence: whence do we come, and where are we going?” 

Yes. We are all on this journey together. Our enemies are not Jews and Muslims but the self-righteousness, the ignorant, and the arrogantly xenophobic.

 

Jack

Dr. John A. Dick – Historical Theologian

Personal Email: jadleuven@gmail.com

 

As we draw closer to the 2026 midterm elections on November 3^rd, I offer a brief reflection about civic virtue and the dangers of authoritarian leaders.

Civil virtue refers to ethical standards for public behavior. The survival of democracy depends on it because it governs everyday life: how we treat others, what we think and do about the world around us: about nature, business, culture, religion, family life, and so on. Serious reflection and engagement are essential. We observe. We judge. Then, we act.

Without a healthy civic virtue, democracy collapses into either chaos or authoritarian dictatorship.

The danger of such a collapse is a very real possibility. Civic virtue is cast aside by authoritarian “leaders” because they see social order maintained not by adherence to shared public values but by fidelity to the dictates and wishes of the authoritarian leader, who is in control.

Authoritarian “leaders,” in fact, like and promote chaotic societal situations in which people live in fear and uncertainty. They create big issues to distract people from what is really going on. Authoritarians behave without accountability. They have zero tolerance for criticism and promote unreasonable fears about the outside world that often involve evil conspiracies and persecution by “them” against “us.” In fact, they denigrate and remove those who observe and report what is really happening.

In a healthy democracy there are certain generally held civic virtue values: for example, that murder is immoral, theft is immoral, harming innocent people is immoral, and lying and spreading false information is immoral. When these immoral actions are turned into social virtues or social normalities, society is in trouble. I recall the words of the French philosopher and writer Voltaire (1694 – 1778): “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”

So what does one do about authoritarian leaders and their followers?

The best way to confront the narrow and incorrect vision of authoritarians is through broad-based education that emphasizes critical, analytical thinking skills. It starts at home. Broad-based education emphasizes the importance of gathering evidence and then continuing to conclusions. In our communities and parishes, we need to set up channels for dialogue. We need to support those people and institutions that promote multi-cultural knowledge and understanding.

We need to courageously work against ignorance and speak-out about dishonest or faulty information. We must speak-out about those who advocate and publish lies and falsehood.

Civic virtue insures, in effect, the survival of the human spirit. By the “human spirit” I mean those positive aspects of humanity that people show toward one another: empathy, respect, generosity, connection, emotional bonding, and identifying with the other. These elements require a sense of equality and a demand for human rights and justice in all domains of life, especially social and economic justice. Extremely self-centered righteousness leads to conflict, not cooperation; to fear, not hope; to aggression, not mutual respect; and to suspicion, not trust.

People set and adjust their civic virtue through interaction with family and friends, and with social, religious, political, and educational groups of which they are a part.

After the midterm elections, regardless of who wins we will still need to safeguard our democracy based on shared common-good public values and civic virtue behavior. This means caring not just for ourselves but taking responsibility for the well-being of others.

The American cognitive linguist and philosopher, George Lakoff (1941) stressed in his book, The Little Blue Book: Talking and Thinking Democratic, “Houses fall apart if they are not maintained, so do democracy and the gifts of democracy that we barely notice and take for granted: the right to vote, public education, human rights, due process, unbiased news, clean water, clean air, national parks, safe food, good jobs, ethical banking practices, affordable mortgages, fair elections.”

 

It is all part of civic virtue and avoiding social chaos.

• Jack

Dr. John Alonzo Dick – Historical Theologian

Personal email:  jadleuven@gmail.com

 

I have always been inquisitive, wanting to know how things work. Some years ago, however, it was during my first weeks as a theology student, at the then Catholic University of Nijmegen, that my questioning became quite personal. I had left the American College Seminary at the Catholic University of Leuven, after three years there, and was curious about post Vatican II progressive theological and pastoral developments in the Netherlands. My favorite Nijmegen professor was Edward Schillebeeckx (1914-2009), often called “the Dutch theologian” but he was Belgian, born in Antwerp. It was during his course about “The God Question” that I found myself in world of unsettling questions.

One day after class I asked him if I could speak with him. He said: “Of course how about right now?” So, we pulled a couple chairs across from each other and he asked what I wanted to talk about. I told him that his lectures made me do a lot of deep questioning. He smiled and said, “in what way?” I responded that, thanks to him, I had started questioning everything: God, Jesus, the church, the meaning of life, and my own identity. He smiled and said: “Then I am a good teacher.”

Professor Schillebeeckx reminded me that the ancient Greek philosopher, Socrates, had said that the unexamined life is not worth living. Schillebeeckx said he would help me become an open-minded questioner and pursue a life worth living. “And” he said, with a chuckle, “become a good teacher.”

Well, this week’s post is not about Edward Schillebeeckx, who became a supportive good friend, whom I often saw up until shortly before his death in 2009. But I am writing this week about being open-minded.

Over the years, my open-minded questioning and research has led me to many discoveries.

Today I know that Jesus’ disciples were men AND women. As an open-minded and questioning historian I have learned as well that women presided at Eucharistic liturgies in the early Christian communities. I have also realized that Jesus did not ordain anyone because ordination did not exist during his lifetime. In fact, in the first three centuries of Christianity, we have no direct evidence of an ordination ceremony.

Now have learned and realize very humbly that on this human life journey we do question and we do learn new things, by being open to the knowledge and insights of other people. Being open-minded, we need to continually adjust our understandings and beliefs.

Being an open-minded and questioning believer truly enriches a person’s life. I can think of seven ways, but I am sure there are more:

• Open mindfulness enables one to explore and discover. Being an open minded person allows one to experience new ideas and fresh thoughts that stimulate personal growth as they challenge old visions, understandings, and beliefs. It can be a very liberating look at one’s contemporary world through an open mind. Remember Paul in First Corinthians: “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put the ways of childhood behind me.”
• Open mindfulness promotes personal change and transformation. Opening our minds to new ideas allows us the opportunity to change what we think as well as change our view of the world. This does not mean one will necessarily change basic beliefs. It does mean one has to be open and respectful to people with differing perspectives. We work together. We must work together.
• Open mindfulness makes oneself vulnerable. This is scarier. In agreeing to have an open-minded view of the world, we acknowledge we do not know everything. We accept that there are possibilities we may not have considered. This vulnerability can be both terrifying and exhilarating. The jar is either half full or half empty. It depends on one’s perspective. I prefer to say that it is only half full.
• Open mindfulness helps one see and acknowledge personal mistakes. With an open mind one begins to see things from others’ perspectives. One can recognize the mistakes one has made. From time to time, we all fail and fall. The challenge is to acknowledge it and then get back up again and continue the journey, anchored in the virtues of Christian humility and courage.
• Open mindfulness strengthens oneself and gives stability. It presents a platform upon which a person can build, putting one idea on top of another. With an open mind, one learns about new things; and one uses innovative ideas to build on old ideas. In my field we call this ongoing theological development. Dangerous stuff for the old guard ecclesiastics. Nevertheless, everything a woman or a man or a child experiences adds up. It strengthens who one is and what one believes. Note well: It is extremely hard to build on experiences without having an open mind.
• Open mindfulness helps one gain confidence. When a person really lives with an open mind, he or she develops a stronger sense of self. One can respect and appreciate but is no longer confined by the beliefs of others. Then the respectful dialogue can and should begin.
• Open mindfulness promotes self-honesty. Being open-minded means admitting that one is not all-knowing. Even if one is an older theologian! Whatever “truth” one holds, each person must realize that the underlying reality in its depth has more to it than anyone realizes. This understanding creates a sense of honesty that characterizes anyone who lives with an open mind.

 

For some people, being open-minded is easy. It seems to come as effortlessly as breathing. For others, having an open mind can be a challenge. But for anyone who wants to travel the road of life, it is essential. We remember the words of Jesus, in John 8:32, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

– Jack

Dr. John Alonzo Dick — Historical Theologian

Email: jadleuven@gmail.com

 

 

On Thursday April 16, 2026, in a speech in Cameroon, Pope Leo XIV denounced world leaders who invoke religion to justify violence. “Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth.”

On Wednesday April 15, 2026, the incumbent U.S. President had posted an image to his Truth Social platform depicting himself being embraced by Jesus with the US flag as a backdrop, days after a backlash from supporters – including many on the religious right – forced him to delete an AI-generated image portraying the robed U.S. President as a Christ-like healer of the sick.

Thinking about these events has led me to write some reflections about the political use and abuse of Christianity.

First, I offer some historical observations and then some contemporary thoughts.

Historical Observations

Authoritarian leaders have always found Christianity a wonderful convenience, which they manipulate to their advantage. It enables them to lord it over other people and allows them to punish their “enemies” since that punishment, they can proclaim, is what God wants. The very first authoritarian political leader to do this was Constantine.

The Roman Emperor Constantine the Great (272-337 CE), who was emperor from 306 to 337 CE, greatly institutionalized and militarized Christianity to use it as a unifying and controlling force in his Roman Empire. Constantine was baptized on his deathbed in May 337, but scholars generally view his life-long religious practice as a blend of less than Christian personal beliefs and political pragmatism. Throughout his life he had continued to use pagan symbols on his coinage and maintained elements of traditional Roman state religion.

Constantine ordered Christian bishops to attend the First Council of Nicaea in 325 CE in Nicaea (modern-day İznik, Turkey). Actually, he had convened the council and his Council of Nicaea established ecclesiastical laws that explicitly regulated priests and bishops to enforce institutional authority in support of his imperial socio-political program.

I would call Constantine the Great the “Great Distorter of Christianity.” Nevertheless, he is considered a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, which honors him as “equal to the apostles” alongside his mother, St. Helena (c.246-330). Helena greatly promoted her son’s influence over Christianity. She made a tour of  Jerusalem and her well-paid tour guides helped her discover presumed-to-be Christian relics: the cross on which Jesus was crucified, the iron nails used during the crucifixion, and even some thorns from Jesus’ Crown of Thorns.

Post-Constantine Christianity in the Middle Ages saw a significant rise in institutional and sectarian violence as Christianity was intertwined with imperial power.

Twentieth Century

In the twentieth century there of course have been three very significant political users and abusers of Christianity.

The atheist and anti-clerical Benito Mussolini (1883 – 1945) needed backing by the Vatican to promote his National Fascist Party. He therefore married in the Catholic Church and had his children baptized. In his first parliamentary speech in 1921, he announced that “the only universal values that radiate from Rome are those of the Vatican.”

Spain’s Generalissimo Franco (1892 – 1975) became a cruel and murderous dictator. Although Franco himself was not very devout, he portrayed himself as a fervent Catholic and used religion to increase his power. He used the Guerrilleros de Christo Rey (the Warriors of Christ the King) to implement his policy of torture and executions.

And then there is Adolf Hitler (1889 – 1945). Hitler ceased being a Catholic when a teenager. But Hitler and his Nazi party promoted their brand of “Positive Christianity.” He described Jesus as an “Aryan fighter” who struggled against the corrupt Pharisees. Joseph Goebbels (1897 –1945), Hitler’s Reich Minister of Propaganda and one of his closest and most devoted associates, wrote in April 1941 that, although Hitler was “a fierce opponent” of the Vatican, “he forbids me to leave the church, for tactical reasons.” The use and abuse of Christianity.

Twenty-First Century Observations

Getting back to the contemporary United States, I suspect we all remember that day in early June 2020 when, Bible in hand, the 45^th U.S. President posed for photos in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church. It was typical political theater. The Right Reverend Dr. Mariann Edgar Budde, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington DC, stressed that the U.S. President had used the Bible at St. John’s “as if it were a prop or an extension of his military and authoritarian position.”

In his second presidential administration, the now 47^th U.S. President, began implementing “Project 2025,” the 900-page policy guide created by The Heritage Foundation to turn the United States into an authoritarian Christian nationalist state by expanding presidential power and promoting conservative Christian values.

Using and abusing Christianity, of course, is not just a contemporary U.S. issue. Russian Orthodox priests have often sprinkled holy water on jets, tanks, and nuclear missiles to “spiritually protect Russia.” Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian Orthodox leadership under Patriarch Kirill (born 1946) strongly supported the military effort, with Orthodox clergy actively blessing troops and equipment heading to the front lines.

In reanimated Constantinian Christianity, Patriarch Kirill has called Russian President Vladimir Putin’s leadership “a miracle of God.” Putin was born in October 1952 in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) during the rule of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin (1878-1953), a time when religious practice was banned. His mother, a devout Orthodox Christian, Maria Ivanovna Putina (1911-1998), took him to the Transfiguration Cathedral with a female neighbor to have him baptized but without telling her husband, who was a strict member of the Communist Party and would have faced severe consequences if party authorities had discovered Vladimir’s baptism.

Today, displaying his public piety, President Putin attends Orthodox Christmas and Easter services and often wears a baptismal cross. Many Russian observers question the depth of his Christian belief, viewing his public displays of Christianity as political tools rather than signs of genuine spiritual devotion. A helpful book to read about Vladimir Putin and his version of Christianity is the 2024 book by Lucy Ash, an expert on Russian social, political, and cultural issues, The Baton and the Cross: Russia’s Church Under Putin.

Concluding Thoughts

Healthy Christianity is honest. It unites us and gives us hope and courage for tomorrow. It calls all to honesty, justice, respect, and compassion.

Promoting a healthy Christian way of life may very well be our biggest Christian challenge in 2026.

I close with the Franciscan Version Serenity Prayer for Our Times, brought to my attention by my friend Bishop Nancy Meyer, who made history as Indiana’s first female bishop within the Roman Catholic Women Priests organization in June 2014.

“God, grant me the patience to work with the unjust systems I cannot change today. Grant me the courage to strategically enact progress when I know I can. And grant me the wisdom to know that, despite structural oppression, I still can make a difference. Amen.”

 

Jack

Dr. John Alonzo Dick – Historical Theologian

Email:  jadleuven@gmail.com

Right now, I am re-reading George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. It was published on June 8, 1949, as Orwell’s ninth and final completed book. Thematically, it centers on totalitarianism, mass surveillance, and repressive regimentation of people. A friend suggested that it should be reprinted today with the title Twenty Twenty-Six.

The most famous Orwellian sentences in Nineteen Eighty-Four are: “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength” and “Big Brother is watching you.”

Researchers and writers in every discipline today are finding it increasingly difficult to effectively communicate in an environment in which findings are distorted or ignored to serve an ideological agenda. Arguments rage at school board meetings, for example, about what can and what cannot be discussed or taught, and a new report from PEN America, the non-profit organization founded in 1922 that protects free expression, human rights, and literature, more than 3,700 unique books were banned during the 2024-2025 school year, more than double the number of titles PEN America tracked in the 2021-2022 school year when it began counting.

Teachers in schools today hesitate to tackle topics like racism and socioeconomic or LGBTQ+ issues in their classrooms for fear of being targeted by conservative parents and losing their jobs.

Overwhelmingly, book banners continue to target stories by and about people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals. But school boards today are also banning books with “uncomfortable” interpretations of reality, such as the Holocaust book Maus, the Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novel by American cartoonist Art Spiegelman. Surprisingly even Mark Twain’s classic, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, has now been banned for racial slurs. Harper Lee’s 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the novel about a white lawyer’s defense of a black man against a false rape charge by a white woman, has now been repeatedly banned in schools.

During and between his terms as president of the United States, the incumbent president has made tens of thousands of false or misleading claims. Fact-checkers at The Washington Post documented 30,573 false or misleading claims during his first presidential term, an average of 21 per day.

Back in 2020, when the 45th president launched his audacious lie yet about his “stolen election” many commentators cited Hannah Arendt’s observations about political lying. Hannah Arendt (1906 – 1975), the German historian and philosopher became interested in how the most outrageous lies get a political hold over people, ever since Nazi lies about the Jews, Communists, and intellectuals drove her from Berlin in 1933 after her arrest by the Gestapo. She wrote, “This constant lying is not aimed at making the people believe a lie, but at ensuring that no one believes anything anymore. A people that can no longer distinguish between truth and lies cannot distinguish between right and wrong. And such a people, deprived of the power to think and judge, is, without knowing and willing it, completely subjected to the rule of lies. With such a people, you can do whatever you want.”

Well, our contemporary world is experiencing a crisis in facts and truth, which also contributes to distrust in various political and religious institutions. The situation has become more complicated with AI generated false images that are proclaimed as genuine.

The Israeli medievalist Yuval Noah Harari (born 1976) urges voters to make artificial intelligence the main issue in the upcoming 2026 U.S. midterm elections. Harari warns that artificial intelligence poses a unique threat because it is the first technology that can make decisions, independent of human beings, and generate new ideas. 

Democracy relies on conversation, but AI can hack human language and manipulate public debates.

Theologian John Dominic Crossan (born 1934) said it very well in his 2014 book Paul as Pharisee: A Vision of Post-civilization: “We now live, verbally and visually, nationally and internationally, in a world of smiling lies, alternative facts, fake news, aspirations masquerading as interpretations, and conspiracy theories where truth is at best a personal opinion or at worst an obsolete artifact.”

The key question is how do we know what is true and what is not true when watching the news, listening to elected officials, listening to religious leaders, or using social media? Conflicting messages bombard us every day.

Here, below, are my suggestions for truth-seeking and truth-speaking:

(1)  A helpful tool today, when checking the accuracy of what one finds on social media and news websites is “Snopes.com.” Founded in 1994, Snopes is a reliable resource to research and debunk urban legends, fake pictures, etc. I use it to check Facebook observations. Another helpful website is “FactCheck.org.” It is very helpful checking news reports about the positions and statements of current political candidates. I use both to check the veracity of Facebook reports.

(2) We are not expected to have all the answers on our own. As we look for truth, we can turn to trusted sources for guidance. That may mean a trusted mentor, a well-informed friend, an insightful public figure respected for her or his integrity, or a respected book using primary source material. We need trustworthy speakers. They need our support and collaboration.

(3) When truth becomes simply a personal or a group fabrication, the understanding of reality is turned upside down. Discrimination and cruelty become the norm and compassion disappears. Extremist websites and groups gather more supporters. Self-advancement at any cost becomes the new virtue, and self-advancement today is politically very “in.”

(4) When truth becomes simply a personal or group fabrication, God can become part of that fabrication, becoming a religious figure who condones and blesses liars and tyrants. Far removed from Jesus of Nazareth who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6)

(5) We have a responsibility to be not just truth-seekers but courageous truth-speakers.

 

Jack

Dr. John Alonzo Dick – Historical Theologian

Email: jadleuven@gmail.com