As senior pastor of Cathedral of Hope in Dallas, I write with deep concern over the portrayal of a political figure as Jesus Christ. This is not only theologically\u00a0indefensible;\u00a0it is\u00a0also spiritually dangerous and civically corrosive.<\/p>\n
To equate any human leader with Christ is a form of idolatry. It distorts the heart of the Christian gospel and manipulates people of faith into confusing devotion to God with allegiance to any political figure. Jesus taught humility,\u00a0compassion\u00a0and truth, not the glorification of earthly power and empire.<\/p>\n
This trend is closely tied to the rise of Christian nationalism, an ideology that wrongly fuses religious identity with political authority. Rather than strengthening faith, it corrupts it, turning belief into a tool of power and replacing moral accountability with unquestioning loyalty. It also threatens the constitutional separation of church and state, a safeguard that protects both religious freedom and democratic integrity.<\/p>\n
When leaders are cast in messianic terms, criticism is silenced and accountability erodes. That is not faithfulness, it is fanaticism, and it endangers both our democracy and our witness as Christians.<\/p>\n
People of faith must reject this false narrative. Our calling is not to sanctify political figures, but to uphold truth,\u00a0justice\u00a0and humility. Anything less diminishes both our faith and our nation.<\/p>\n
The Rev. Neil G. Thomas, Dallas<\/p>\n
\nResponsible public servants\n<\/p>\n
Re: \u201cScrutinizing plan for City Hall is our job\u00a0\u2014 It\u2019s about ensuring due diligence, not criticizing,\u201d by Adam Bazaldua, Tuesday Opinion.<\/p>\n
Bazaldua makes some good points in his column. But he poses questions that he himself\u00a0fails to\u00a0answer. Where were he and his colleagues and predecessors when City Hall was deteriorating all these years? Where were they when the city was failing AT&T, downtown\u2019s largest private employer?\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Fair Park reflecting pool has $50 million in deferred maintenance.\u00a0Where were they? Our streets are filled with potholes. Where were they? The list goes on.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Instead of finger-pointing and deflecting, why don\u2019t he and his colleagues act more like responsible public servants and less like a classroom of unsupervised third graders? Dallas needs a competent City Council and mayor; it has neither. The voters could fix that if more of us would pay attention.<\/p>\n
Charles W. Sartain, Dallas<\/p>\n
Re: \u201cTexas Board of Education takes up reading list with Bible stories.\u00a0Here\u2019s\u00a0how the public responded,\u201d online story.<\/p>\n
Hats off to Megan Boyden, a Denton ISD parent who disagrees with the proposed K-12 reading list. She, along with\u00a0numerous\u00a0curriculum experts and countless parents,\u00a0disagrees\u00a0with a plan that will indoctrinate our children with religious views that may or may not align\u00a0with those of their families.<\/p>\n
As a result of the proposed reading list, we will see our comparative scores sink even lower. In addition, the proposed reading list will not provide our students with the competency and knowledge they need for future success. Not only will test scores fall, but our Texas economic miracle will fade.<\/p>\n
So who is behind the proposed reading list? The Republican Party \u2014 a party that supports the advancement of Christian nationalism.<\/p>\n
By law, the State Board of Education must allow hearings and testimony on proposed curricula, but they\u00a0are not required to\u00a0enact that testimony. How do we change this system in our state so that we can provide our children with the best education possible? By voting out those in power.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As senior pastor of Cathedral of Hope in Dallas, I write with deep concern over the portrayal of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249515,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103,90649],"class_list":{"0":"post-252149","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-dallas","9":"tag-dallas-headlines","10":"tag-dallas-news","11":"tag-tp-letters-to-the-editor"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}