Category Archives: Polity

“Tell It Like It Is”: A Frequently Abused Phrase

Posted by Caleb Coy on

Frequently Abused Phrases: “Tell It Like It Is”

The other day I heard a fella give praise about another fella because he “calls a spade a spade,” meaning that he’s blunt enough to address things how they are. We value the qualities of plainspokenness, forthrightness, conversational grit. We don’t like it when people beat around the bush when they have something to say. We don’t trust people who always seem to speak in code or tread through every statement as if scared to offend someone somewhere. I get that.
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Why So Many Christians Vote Libertarian

Posted by Caleb Coy on

In the past 2 weeks my goal was to break down as simply as possible why many in Christians in general vote for either of the two major parties in elections. But what about third parties? The Libertarian party has grown more popular in recent elections. Why do so many Christians choose to vote for this third party? Christians who are staunchly Republican or Democratic may wonder why anyone would dare vote for a party that has yet to put a President in office.

[Click here for my treatment of Christian Republicans
here for my treatment of Christian Democrats
and here for Christian non-voters]
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Why So Many Christians Vote Republican

Posted by Caleb Coy on

In the next 2 weeks my goal is to break down as simply as possible why many in Christians in general vote for either of the two major parties in elections. Christians who are staunchly Republican may wonder why someone who shares the same beliefs, values, and worldview would dare vote for a Democratic. Christians who are staunchly Democratic may wonder why someone who shares the same beliefs, values, and worldview would dare vote for a Republican. Christians who are neither of these may wonder the same about either.

[click here for my answer to why so many Christians vote Democrat
here for my answer to why so many Christians vote Libertarian
here for my answer to why so many Christians abstain from voting]
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X-Men’s Apocalypse is Right

Posted by Caleb Coy on

X-Men: Apocalypse opened this summer, the latest installment in a famous comic turned film franchise. Although I have not seen the film, anyone familiar with the titular villain knows that the premise follows his character’s legacy: A nearly invincible and all-powerful mutant wishes to destroy the world of humans (and weak mutants) and create a world meant only for the strongest.
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What I think when an abortion clinic is bombed during an Islamic terrorism crisis on Thanksgiving

Posted by Caleb Coy on

I think to myself, when will we American Christians see the irony?

When we label Islam a violent religion with no teachings of peace, when we use violent rhetoric to attack doctors who perform abortions, when we treat refugees like potential threats to a country defined by mass immigration—what are we missing?
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On “Freedom” in Jonathan Franzen’s Novel, Freedom

Posted by Caleb Coy on

Jonathan Franzen has said of fiction that if it “isn’t an author’s personal adventure into the frightening or the unknown” it “isn’t worth writing for anything but money.” The author’s passion we read in his the novel Freedom was hardly an adventure for money. This novel hurts to read. It makes you ache. It makes you depressed. I makes you yearn for the freedom of having finished it.
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Putting the Elf Shelf Away: A Reflection

Posted by Caleb Coy on

https://www.flickr.com/photos/thegirlsny/8208193899/lightbox/

Despite a number of protests, my wife and I opted to do the Elf on the Shelf this year for our two-and-a-half-year-old. No, the protests weren’t from our child. I meant he protests in various blogs online, blogs that make very good points.
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