Politics

An Open Letter to Never Trump Friends The mission statement of FreeThinking Ministries is stated as follows: "Reasoning together (Isaiah 1:18) by applying logic and sound theology to all aspects of life." Josh Klein and I reason together by applying logic and sound theology to one of the most important aspects of life -- POLITICS. Indeed, we start with theology to reach our political conclusions, which is an important aspect of life as it has a huge impact upon our neighbors

Dear friend who is inclined not to cast a vote for either Harris or Trump, I agree that Trump deserves criticism for his weakened stance on abortion. His position on abortion has probably changed for the worse since coming to the conclusion that he can't get elected by holding a consistently pro-life position. But consider Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 election. Even Lincoln was not a declared abolitionist in 1860 (and also by our standards today a racist). He couldn't have bee

In our previous two installments (See Part 1 & Part 2 ) we considered the charges against Trump and levied our own heavily sourced charges against the Harris administration and campaign, but we are not finished. Much more could be said about the moral and political deficiencies of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. For instance, Harris was recently endorsed by the pornography industry , something you won’t read about from the “Evangelicals for Harris” community while they, at the s

By J.R. Klein & Timothy A. Stratton In our previous installment we focused on reasons we do not consider voting for Trump a moral blight nor a danger to our democracy please read part 1 here: ( Part 1 ) This installment will focus on why it is possible that not actively opposing the Harris/Walz agenda could bring historic evil on our neighbors. We invite you to reason together with us as we make our case. Good Men Doing Nothing Consider this well-known quote: “Let not any o

By J.R. Klein & Timothy A. Stratton Dear Never Trump friends, We seek unity with our brothers and sisters in Christ, but there is a glaring issue—that seems to be an objective moral issue—in our culture today that is dividing the Church in America and turning brothers and sisters in Christ against one another. We cannot ignore it. It must be addressed. We must seek unity. Please consider this an invitation to reason together. The mission of FreeThinking Ministries is “Rea

Mike Austin is a well-known professor who describes himself as a "philosopher focused on spiritual formation, cultivating character, and contributing to the common good." He also publicly stated that he would be voting for Harris and Walz on social media. These two things seem contradictory to me (as well as many others who are either philosophers or theologians). So, on Facebook, I publicly invited Dr. Austin to have a moderated discussion with me about this topic.   My post

The message of this week’s platitudinous insubstantial presidential debate was loud and clear: the apocalypse is upon us once again. This election cycle will determine the beginning of the end of the United States as we know it: either the Climate Sky God will destroy all humanity, or immigrants will eat US citizens’ cats. The well known, most popular, and efficient Vice President Kamala Harris, who never changes and always holds to her values, warned of the Climate Sky God

I've been fascinated by Marxism since my parents first told me about the Cold War we were living in when I was almost 10-years-old (1983). I remember asking them why the Soviet Union had nuclear weapons aimed at us. After my parents reassured me that we had just as many nuclear missiles aimed back at them -- ensuring that they will not use these weapons against us (peace through strength) -- they explained it to me like I was 10-years-old (because I was). While not using thes

I'm wired to be a protector.  I think it's because I was bullied mercilessly growing up. I was always the smallest and skinniest kid in my class. Not only would my schoolmates make fun of me for being so skinny, but they would also often seek to make an example of my weakness in front of others. In fact, one day, I even got beat up by a couple of girls. I would literally get beat up on the playground, in the lunch line, in the locker rooms, and at the swimming pool. In fact,

During the presidential elections there are many voices that arise “crying out in the wilderness,” as it were, proclaiming all sorts of weird ideas. One of those ideas is the thought that within this seemingly hostile and divided political and cultural climate even within the church, Christians who hold to a particular view are looking to crown a new political messiah and usher in some sort of a new kingdom. I cannot speak for all who claim to follow Jesus Christ. Perhaps the

For the past few weeks, Christians have been castigated, especially by some Christian pastors, for shouting and being unkind toward unbelievers. The echo of “Jesus would not act this way” has resounded in the cultural sanctuaries, drowning out the Christian message of sin, repentance, and salvation in Jesus Christ. And rightly so! The Olympics opening ceremony and the follow-up women’s boxing controversy of allowing humans with XY chromosomes to pummel women with XX chromosom

This was not a review I wanted to write. I am still not finished with Megan Basham’s newly released book Shepherd’s For Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda . I wanted to review the book in totality before I finished it but the news cycle and reactions waits for no man and so, unfortunately, there are things to be addressed prior to the release of a broad overview of the book. (That review is forthcoming.) If you have followed along with the r

Facebook recently deleted one of my posts that was garnering lots of attention. Fortunately, before it was deleted, I felt led to copy and paste my post along with many of the great comments and save it. This allows us the opportunity to continually benefit from the iron-sharpening conversation that was taking place. It also allows others to see if the Book of Face was justified in violating free speech. The topic of the thread was about Marxists who have been infiltrating t

My wife and I went to see Deadpool & Wolverine on opening night. Wolverine was my favorite comic book hero during my middle school days and I loved Deadpool when he first appeared in Marvel Comics back in my Senior year of high school. The idea of a mutant ninja gunslinger resonated with me in my late teens and continues to do so today (I'm still growing up).   Deadpool reminded me of a mix between the ninjas from the G.I. Joe comics (Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow) and Boba Fe

March 30 th 1981. Exactly six years before I was born. The last time a President or Presidential Candidate was the victim of an attempted assassination. Then President Ronald Reagan was leaving the Hilton Hotel after a rally when John Hinckley Jr. shot him at near point-blank range. Reagan was rushed to the hospital. Multiple staffers were seriously injured. Upon arriving at the hospital, it is said that as Reagan was rushed into surgery he quipped to the surgeons, “I ho

I am a staunch abortion abolitionist. I believe that human life and personhood starts at conception and thus that any ending of that life intentionally is murderous. I have written some on the topic here at FreeThinking Ministries (Read: After Roe ) and debated the topic in various ways and venues throughout the years. I have made the argument for life from scripture and without scripture. In fact, I have argued that the 14 th amendment of the United States supports a feder

There is a good chance that most reading this blog have heard and can finish the State Farm jingle that begins with the words in the above title. More than making the point that a good neighbor is available to help, the message is that State Farm Insurance is always there to help. We can imagine that whoever came up with the advertisement thought they were on the cutting edge of marketing. Little did they know that two thousand years ago Jesus had made the same point—dare we

I've been writing and speaking about "nationalism" since 2019. The first article I wrote on the topic was entitled, " Should Christians be Against Christian Nationalism? " This article was in response to a statement many Christians signed condemning Christian Nationalism, but it never defined the term or clarified exactly what this bogeyman was. Before going any further, let's define the word "nationalism." Over the past few years, the first definition that comes up after a G

By Tim Stratton and Josh Klein We were recently disheartened to see Ron DeSantis and Nikki Hayley drop out of the presidential race. This effectively guarantees Donald Trump as the Republican nominee for 2024. Although I (Stratton) left the Republican Party during the George W. Bush era, I begrudgingly voted for Trump in 2016 and again in 2020 because I believed the alternative was so much worse. Although we both believe Trump is a deeply flawed person, as Christians and anal

Whenever a well known atheist departs from his or her disciplined stance against the existence of God to an openness to Him cultural waves are made. Larger waves are made if said person claims to have converted to Christianity. In fact, the waves are so large that very few prominent atheists have ever made the leap as public and definitive as Aayan Hirsi Ali recently did. A little over a month ago the famed former Muslim turned atheist turned to Christianity and the waves ha