The Religious Freedom Restoration Act is unconstitutional and opened the door to the death of religious liberty in America, political science professor Marci Hamilton told the Texas Tribune Festival Nov. 13. Hamilton, a lawyer with extensive experience in religious liberty…
Ken Starr resurfaces in Epstein files
Former Baylor University President Ken Starr’s role in the Jeffrey Epstein saga resurfaced Nov. 12 as the House Oversight Committee released thousands of pages of documents about the disgraced financier and his connections to the nation’s political elite. That dump…
Why I missed the luncheon
Today, I was supposed to attend a luncheon celebrating passage of “Trey’s Law” in Texas and Missouri this year. Instead, I was trapped in a Dallas County courtroom on a panel of potential jurors for a child sexual abuse case….
AWAB praises court’s rejection of Obergefell review
The Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists praised a U.S. Supreme Court decision not to take up a challenge to the landmark 2015 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. “In a time when the politics of our day bring overwhelmingly…
Women’s equality is a gospel issue, veteran pastor says
The equality of women is a gospel issue, not just a social justice issue, according to veteran pastor Cynthia Hale. She was among the speakers at the Nov. 6-7 annual gathering of Baptist Women in Ministry held at Second Ponce…
BWIM research shows 6 markers of congregations that empower women
“More Baptist women than ever before are experiencing God’s call to ministry and having opportunities to live out their callings in ministerial and pastoral roles,” said Meredith Stone, executive director of Baptist Women in Ministry. “However, until every category of…
‘Unlearn the lies about women,’ BWIM preacher urges
The Christian church must unlearn some lies to see women as called by God to ministry, according to Barbara Lavarin, who addressed Baptist Women in Ministry Nov. 6. Lavarin, director of supporting women in ministry for BWIM, preached the opening…
Russell Moore sounds alarm about evangelicals accepting Nazis
Add Russell Moore to the list of evangelicals warning about how too many conservatives are warming up to antisemitism and Nazi nostalgia. The Christianity Today columnist and former head of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission wrote a…
The hypocrisy of Christian nationalists not feeding the hungry
So let me see if I’ve got this right: According to Christian nationalists, the evangelical church ought to have control over America and run the government strictly by Christian principles. Why, then, are these same people unwilling to follow the…
Largest gay church pushes back on Texas Supreme Court
The pastor of the world’s largest progressive church with a primary outreach to the LGBTQ community issued a statement blasting a Texas Supreme Court assessment that allows state judges to refuse to conduct same-sex marriages based on religious freedom claims….
Trump’s latest bundle of lies endangers trans folk the most
“No transgender for everyone,” Donald Trump declared of his second term as president in a controversial social media post Oct. 27. In an 83-word Truth Social post that boasted at least eight flagrant lies, Trump included as part of his…
Glaude urges a simple response to MAGA: ‘You’re lying’
Honest Americans need a shorthand way of challenging President Donald Trump and his MAGA followers, says Eddie Glaude Jr. of Princeton University. He suggests a simple phrase: “You’re lying.” “Within the context of faith, the Christian tradition, those who claim…