Tuesday’s astonishing election results were a massive nationwide repudiation of Donald Trump, his administration and the conduct of his government in the last two years. Tuesday was the opportunity for the people of the nation to be heard, beyond social…
Realistic thoughts on hope
I am an election nerd. I love studying polls and following the ins and outs of campaign trail news. Being just such an election nerd has put me in the vicinity of hope over the last few months. That’s because…
Why Americans should pay attention to the crisis in Israel
There are lessons for Americans to learn from what’s going on in Israel. One starting point is this 2024 book, Diary of a Crisis: Israel in Turmoil. The book began as essentially a daily notebook of political life in 2023…
In conversation with Rick Pidcock about Weapons of Worship
This week I caught up with Rick Pidcock, a friend from the shared publishing world of Baptist News Global who has now written a riveting new book, Weapons of Worship: How the Songs of Evangelicalism Form the Soundtrack of Extremism. Rick,…
A sober analysis of the 2026 midterms
I write often about how politics is not the only thing to care about if you are a Christian. However, it is indeed one thing to care about, one very important thing. I have found Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s guidance very helpful…
The corruption of US immigration enforcement
The single most corrupt thing so far about the current United States federal government under this president is the corruption of the immigration enforcement bureaucracy. There are many competitors for this sad award, but at the level of government policy,…
Jesus is not our political mascot
When you have a few years on you, as I do, you start running into reruns, reboots and reiterations. How many Spider-Man movie reboots have there been since the 1970s? How many versions of Pride and Prejudice? How many efforts…
Ideology, autocracy and resistance: Assessing our US situation
As the end of the summer approaches, Congress returns to Washington, and the November elections move into their stretch run, it seems a good time to try to assess where exactly we are in terms of this second Trump administration…
What comes after ‘Post-Evangelicalism’?
I am sometimes asked why post-evangelicals have created and are retaining an identity and name that carries forward the religion we have left behind. Doesn’t that just reinscribe the trauma? Doesn’t it confuse the effort to define ourselves now? Doesn’t…
Who belongs to the nation?
It may be that the MAGA movement has fallen on hard times. Its president is faltering, with very poor approval ratings. The Iran war and the Epstein debacle have splintered the MAGA base. The administration appears to have little vision…
Reflections on In the Twilight of the Christian West
One of the things I love about my job is that I get to read many manuscripts before they enter the public arena. This is usually a request for an endorsement. Last year, I had the opportunity to consider Harvard…
The wicked are punished — or not
For about a decade, I have had a book brewing that takes on the book of Job. It is now about to come out Sept. 1. It will be called Job in Exile: A Guide for Spiritual Refugees. There are…