The road to opposing President Donald Trump’s executive overreach runs straight out of Waco, Texas. That’s the hometown of Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward, the legal advocacy group that is leading the charge in federal court against Trump’s blizzard…
Now Ryan Walters wants Oklahoma students to study alleged fraud in 2020 election
Already the most ridiculed man in public education, Ryan Walters isn’t yet done making a spectacle of his far-right agenda. The Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction now wants to rewrite U.S. history lessons to accommodate Donald Trump’s lie that he…
Samaritan’s Purse gets $19 million back payment from USAID
Samaritan’s Purse has received $19 million in previously frozen USAID funds, Ministry Watch reported March 19. The faith-based relief agency led by Franklin Graham — one of President Donald Trump’s most vocal supporters — is among the many global nonprofits…
Jeffress, Wolfe, Strachan among evangelical leaders praying over Trump
In a reprise of a famous photo op from his first term in the White House, Donald Trump welcomed 17 evangelical pastors to the Oval Office March 19 to pray over him. The next day, a different group of religious…
Evangelical clergy largely deny human causes of climate change
Evangelical Protestant clergy are outliers among their peers in rejecting the scientific consensus that earth’s climate is changing and human actions are a major cause. Nearly 80% of evangelical Protestant clergy reject this idea, which is strongly held by the…
Musk says Stalin, Mao and Hitler ‘didn’t murder millions of people’
The billionaire whose “efficiency” actions are killing and harming children and adults across the world now says Adolf Hitler and other dictators of the 20th century didn’t actually murder millions of people. Last Thursday, Elon Musk reposted on X: “Stalin,…
The Ken Paxton Cruelty Show continues
Does Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton just sit around his office and think of new ways to be cruel? Sure seems like it. The churchgoing Southern Baptist, who was impeached by the Texas House but spared conviction by Trump loyalists…
Judge appears skeptical of Trump ban on transgender service members
A federal judge appeared reluctant March 12 to comprehend the legality of a Trump executive order that bans transgender people from serving in the U.S. military. U.S. District Court Judge Ana Reyes repeatedly questioned the government’s lawyers for what she…
Stakes are high as Supreme Court takes up conversion therapy case
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up a Colorado case that addresses one of the most controversial of all debates about homosexuality and the church: Is so-called “conversion therapy” legitimate or abusive? The largely discredited strategy of helping…
Marshall says ‘scandalous providence’ preserved her life’s work
When she was forced off the faculty of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and accused of heresy, Molly Marshall found “a scandalous providence preserved my vocation and my life’s work,” she recently recalled. Marshall, now president of United Theological Seminary of…
‘Do No Harm Act’ gets introduced yet again
A coalition of Democratic legislators has reintroduced the “Do No Harm Act” in the U.S. Congress with hopes of clarifying that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act cannot be used to harm others. The bill has been reintroduced every year since…
How Southwestern Seminary is bouncing back from financial catastrophe
Over the past six years, we have spilt buckets of digital ink here bringing you the saga of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. I’m writing today not in the format of a news story but in the…