The form of religion we have inherited was packaged for mass appeal. It can still be sold to the Boomers, but the Millennials aren’t buying. And that’s a blessing.
Custodians of a lost America: The power and limitations of white evangelicalism
Donald Trump’s victory suggests that the influence of white conservative Christians extends far beyond the borders of evangelical culture. Not everybody outside the white evangelical camp is bashing that tribe. Especially in the South and Midwest, white evangelicals are valued as custodians of traditional sexual ethics by white folks who attend Mainline Protestant or Roman Catholic churches.
My father, the born-again socialist
In his formative years, my father encountered two religious options. One was forward-looking and optimistic, hoping for better days ahead; the other was nostalgic and pessimistic, resigned to the imminent end of the world. Like most North American Christians, my father was a product of both visions: one influenced his religion, the other his politics.
Liberal Christianity and the scandal of incarnation
The central claim of our faith is: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.” Don’t let the poetic familiarity of the language fool you, this is an audacious claim. Christians believe that God looks and loves like Jesus.
Do we worship the flag?
For many Americans, the flag stirs emotions far deeper than anything God inspires. Have we created a national religion in which the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, the sacrifice of soldiers on the field of battle, and the invincibility of American firepower are practically indistinguishable?
You don’t have to live like a refugee
You can read David Gushee’s “Still Christian: Following Jesus Out of American Evangelicalism” in an evening or afternoon. You can and you should.
The megachurch bubble is about to burst: What will that mean for American culture?
What would happen if megachurches mixed in some good news for the poor, a little “the least of these,” a little “blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God”?
The white singularity: The racial divide in American evangelicalism
The great divide in our country is not between the secular left and the religious right; it’s between white evangelicals who vote Republican and non-white evangelicals who don’t.
The curse of Ham: Black Baptists question their place in the SBC
A proposed resolution condemning the alt-right which was submitted to the Southern Baptist Convention last month included a reference to the “curse of Ham.” The statement eventually adopted by the SBC omitted the reference. And that’s a problem.