A conservative friend on social media recently admitted that some of the storylines around Donald Trump’s second term have been extreme but concluded this is simply the way the pendulum swings. In one sense, what he said was true. Since…
Are we a democracy or a republic? Why words matter
“The United States is not a democracy! It’s a republic!” my independent Baptist high school government teacher declared over the sound of gunfire and cannons exploding in the Civil War re-enactment across the street. Almost three decades later, the debate…
Feeling overwhelmed? Think local, Tyler advises
It can be overwhelming to consider that there won’t be a presidential election for nearly four years, or even the possibility of winning either the House or Senate away from the control of Christian nationalists for another two years. One…
When a church’s sexual abuse is so pernicious the church should close
“The nation of Israel was born because Joseph went to prison,” former IHOPKC pastor Mike Bickle told the congregation in what would become his final sermon in October 2023. “He’s thrown in prison because of the betrayal of his brothers.”…
Why Trump seeks to create a government of one person
“Do you believe I am unwittingly supporting the Antichrist?” Benjamin Cole asked BNG Executive Director Mark Wingfield in perhaps the most contentious episode of BNG’s “Stuck in the Middle with You” podcast to date. In an hour-long conversation on current politics, the…
White evangelical men weaponize the gospel against women because they don’t respect women
“Do men desperately need respect, while women desperately need love?” This was the question posed by Sheila Gregoire on a recent episode of the “Bare Marriage” podcast. “That is the thesis of a lot of bestselling books in evangelicalism like Love and…
When worship becomes an act of cruelty
Why are white evangelicals so conditioned for cruelty? After all, the debacle that was Donald Trump’s first day in office included ending birthright citizenship, erasing transgender and intersex people, threatening to colonize our neighbors, lying about the 2020 election results,…
Zuckerberg’s and Rogan’s masculinity sounds like evangelical complementarians
“It’s also good to know that you can kill people,” Joe Rogan opined in his podcast interview with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg as the men began to giggle. “There’s a certain confidence from that,” Zuckerberg affirmed. “If you could sell…
How I learned to stop obsessing over lust and you can too
This second week of January is likely hard for plenty of evangelical men who made New Year’s resolutions not to lust. I know, because I used to be one of them. Even President Jimmy Carter had to deal with this….
When flat earthers and creationists find common ground
It was hyped as “The Final Experiment.” Led by pastor Will Duffy of Agape Kingdom Fellowship in Wheat Ridge, Colo., a group of people who believed in a flat earth and others who believed in a global earth traveled to Union…
Remember that time the pastor reenacted a scene from Die Hard?
“Christmas at the movies!” the pleasant, feminine voice sings as the smiley-faced popcorn, coffee, candy bar and soda cartoon characters come waltzing into the auditorium before getting interrupted with an explosion, heavy metal music, and a man yelling, “Don’t need…
Notre Dame event models the hospitality needed for national healing
As I walked through the snow toward McKenna Hall at Notre Dame University, I imagined the next 12 hours would include hard truths and valuable insights from professors and pundits about the reelection of Donald Trump and the Republican takeover…