[The following is an excerpt from the book, “Rescuing Religion from Republican Reason” by K. Scott Schaeffer] In the years leading up to the 2012 election, the Republican Party embraced the Ryan Plan, a “roadmap” designed to align the nation’s budget and tax structure with modern Republican ideology. On the house.gov website, the Republicans said… Read more »
Posts By: Scott Schaeffer
How obsessing over grace creates selfish Christians
… For the last 40 years, I’ve heard over and over from pastors and Christian writers that they have a new and wonderful message for us. And that message is that God’s grace is all we need; we can’t have too much of God’s grace; all we need is God’s love; God loves you so… Read more »
10 Pitfalls of Privatizing K-12 Education
… As America discusses the possibilities of a private K-12 school system, conservatives defend it by saying, “Why shouldn’t I get to send my kids to any school I want?” while liberals express concerns over discrimination against LGBT youth. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. We need to take a closer look at… Read more »
Obama Was a Test for Christians, and Most Evangelicals Failed It!
… In 2008, I was active in a Christian writers’ group. One day, when discussing the direction of the nation, the leader of the group warned us that “we are being bamboozled” as it looked likely that Obama would become president. With Obama having the middle name, Hussein, Christians couldn’t help but ask, “Could we… Read more »
How to Explain the Biblical Death Penalty
… As both a Christian and a Democrat, I not only have to argue regularly with Republicans who see their party’s support of the wealthy as being one and the same as Christianity, but I also have to endure attacks from Democrats who hate religion, Christianity in particular. If fact, just a couple hours before… Read more »
Why having a “Washington Outsider” as president won’t fix Washington
… Three of the 16 presidential candidates in the 2016 Republican field were people with no political experience – Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, and Donald Trump. They, along with first term Senator Ted Cruz, managed to garner most of their Republican voter support by running as “Washington Outsiders,” – people who are going… Read more »
NAFTA didn’t kill jobs. Bush’s tariffs on imported steel did.
… Donald Trump reiterated yet again in his first debate with Hillary Clinton that NAFTA was the worst trade deal in American history and that he would renegotiate much better trade deals, although he failed to give any details as to how he was going to do that. Trump, as well as many far left… Read more »
Eight Republican Small Government Arguments Debunked
… When the Republican Party opposes laws that protect us from the life-ruining effects of corporate greed, they tend to argue that such laws create big government, which, they say, is evil. They advocate for small government instead, which allows the corporations to exploit workers, consumers and the environment. They employ several well-rehearsed arguments in… Read more »
The biblical stance on the size of government
… [The article is an excerpt from my book, “Rescuing Religion from Republican Reason.”] Fear of Totalitarianism Humans in the 20th century witnessed something the world had never quite seen before – the totalitarian state. While other powerful governments in history have muscled their way into their citizens’ lives, modern technology enabled Nazi Germany and… Read more »
How corporations make us dependent upon them, and how that system fails
… According to the American Presidents’ Series biographies, Thomas Jefferson, as governor of Virginia during the Revolution, wanted Virginia, after the Revolution, to give 50 acres of land to every man who lacked land – a government handout, free of charge – so that every man and his descendants could be self-reliant. Jefferson dreamed of… Read more »