James Patrick Riley | The Liberty Conservative

October 20, 2016October 21, 2016 in Culture/Politics

Seven Rules For Christian Battle

My people are generally conservatives, church-goers, traditionalists and home-schoolers, the sort of people who fear God and fold their underwear neatly — which means they are usually idiots on the political battle field. There are different standards, my gentle Christian friends, for warfare, courtrooms, and political elections. You had better learn them. Your enemies — as WikiLeaks and James O’Keefe have made clear — are willing to lie about you, question your motives, and bring the full weight of the law down against you, even if you’ve done nothing wrong. Anyone who has watched Debbie Wasserman Schultz speak, for even… Keep Reading

October 19, 2016 in Culture/Politics

Eating and Drinking the White House

Hey, isn’t it great that Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, is getting so much time on MSNBC these days? I imagine he’s really winning some hearts for Christ there among the Rachel Maddow fans and the people who miss Melissa Harris-Perry’s pro-abortion tampon earrings. Of course, any platform, even a tavern, can be used for Christ, but my question for Al would be: when are you going to start? (As in, using it for something useful, that is.) Let’s be real, shall we? Al Mohler won’t be getting as many TV appearances on MSNBC after the election, will he?… Keep Reading

October 11, 2016 in Culture/Politics

Paul Ryan’s Lady Failure

If, as a young man, you spent a fair amount of time in Sunday School (as I did) being educated by ladies, you might have found yourself rushing, Paul Ryan style, to their defense, only to find they didn’t really need it — or want it. You know how it goes. Some strutting, sandy-haired Norseman in a letterman’s jacket walks into the party and brazenly appraises the girl you’re trying to impress with your knowledge of Paul’s epistles. You can’t believe it. His eyes are doing an elevator from the breast to hips and back up to her eyes and… Keep Reading

September 29, 2016November 12, 2016 in Culture/Politics

Fewer Professionals, Please

In the summer of 1769 the town of Boxford, Massachusetts was on edge. Jonathan Ames’ pretty young wife, Ruth, had taken ill, and when Mrs. Kimball, a neighbor, came to visit, Ruth’s mother-in-law claimed the odor coming from her chamber was too foul to admit visitors. Kimball nevertheless insisting on a visit, found the room agreeable, but her friend writhing in pain on the bed and foaming at the mouth. When the young woman died the next day, her body was buried quickly, attended by an out of town minister for a very small group of family, with no coroner… Keep Reading

September 19, 2016 in Culture/Philosophy/Politics

An Army, Not an Audience

If your faith isn’t directing you to plant vineyards and guard them with the sword, it might not be faith at all. If you’ve ever nurtured an apple crop through to harvest, enduring heat waves, hailstorms, coddling moth infestations, and property taxes, only to see a family in a brand new SUV stealing apples during a pick-your-own visit, you might have some sense for why I write about God a lot. I know some people proceed straight to the justice question when they are wronged. They lawyer up. They make complaints. They take solace in a withering Yelp review. Me?… Keep Reading

September 16, 2016November 12, 2016 in Culture/Philosophy/Politics

Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition

The Pledge of Allegiance and Standing for the National Anthem are necessary and wholesome public rituals. We celebrate the house that shelters us, even as we strive to repair and restore it. I live in a very beautiful place with a fair amount of history attached to it, so when I had the opportunity to turn down both CBS and the NFL for a commercial shoot yesterday, it felt good. We received a breezy email from the CBS pre-production office outlining their 49ers / NFL promotion as follows: In 1849 there was a gold rush and people flocked to the… Keep Reading

September 13, 2016September 13, 2016 in Politics

When Seeing Might Mean Nothing At All

You have had days like the one I’m having — the kind where you can’t seem to get the image of a rubbery-legged Hillary Clinton collapsing like a theme park Pooh bear with heat stroke into the bowels of a black van– scraping off a shoe as she goes. The Democratic nominee for the president of the United States had been turned into a wilting bean bag, and the grim-faced precision of the secret service didn’t make it any better. It made it far more disturbing; they were obviously accustomed to this pudgy, slack-faced paralysis of hers. (The boss, apparently,… Keep Reading

September 3, 2016September 9, 2016 in Culture/Philosophy/Politics

Personally Holy & Wholly Ineffective

This November, for some Christians, personal holiness will dictate a protest vote against Donald Trump. Is this really conscience, or something darker? Over my years as a believer, I’ve seen personal holiness measured in strange ways. One Sunday morning, after my wife was introduced to a member of the praise team as a “baby Christian,” one of the singers leaned in towards her, with a weird mix of intense curiosity and mystical reserve, and asked: “Have you witnessed yet?” I remember the odd silence between us as we walked out to our car that morning; we had failed this woman’s… Keep Reading

August 23, 2016November 12, 2016 in Culture/Politics

Stop Twitching, NeverTrumpers

Trump-Averse syndrome has many incarnations, but for a few pundits, the behavior calls to mind the hilarious apoplexy of Herbert Lom’s Chief Inspector Dreyfus in the Pink Panther. Upon hearing a positive Donald headline, the Trump-averse coffee-spewer will start twitching, and fretting, and sputtering–if not literally, at least figuratively. In the last few weeks, one friend of mine has gone out of his way to imagine Donald Trump in ongoing liaisons with adolescent girls. Another quietly laments the outrageous lengths some Christians are going to justify a vote for Donald Trump. (This would be the grieving, pastoral snit.) Still others… Keep Reading