The recent 60 Minutes interview with President Donald Trump hosted by Norah O’Donnell was not great television, but it revealed a glaring and well-known flaw in our president. He attacks and denigrates everyone he deems critical of him. He always…
When baptism becomes a carnival
In some evangelical circles, baptism is a spectator sport. It’s always about which pastor or church can baptize the most people or put on the most extravagant baptismal super event. Thus, when Mark Francey, pastor and co-founder of Oceans Church…
Why Orban’s defeat portends bad news for Trump
The defeat of Viktor Orban in Hungary holds promise for America. In one way, Orban’s demise is a lesson in Political Science 101: Political leaders, even in a quasi-democracy, can’t beat a bad economy. Peter Magyar’s landslide victory in Hungary…
Yes, we need another Trump book
There’s yet another new Trump book available. Paul A. Pomerville has written Why Didn’t Evangelicals “See Him Coming”? with the subtitle Donald J. Trump’s Deception and Dismantling of American Democracy. Why bother with another Trump book? Books and articles about…
Pete Hegseth and the revival of racism
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is blocking the promotion of four Army officers to be one-star generals. Two of the officers targeted by Hegseth are Black and two are women on a promotion list that consists of about three dozen officers,…
Imprecatory prayers: A theological-political caution
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Pastor Brooks Potteiger and other MAGA evangelicals are using imprecatory prayers asking God to kill their enemies. Should we be alarmed? A few examples of imprecatory prayers here and there don’t portend an outbreak in…
Confronting Islamophobia is a needed resource
When Anna Piela and Michael Woolf’s Confronting Islamophobia in the Church crossed my desk, I placed it on the stack of books I need to read. Judson Press released the book as a new resource for equipping Christian communities to…
Donald Trump has been wrong about most everything
One of Donald Trump’s marketing slogans declares, “Trump was right about everything.” But in reality, as anyone with eyes can clearly see, Trump has been wrong about most everything. His “business leader” instincts have proved ill-advised and catastrophic time and…
Alabama is about to execute a man who did not kill anyone
The state of Alabama is scheduled to execute Sonny Burton on March 12. An execution in Alabama is not unusual. Since 2016, the state has executed 73 people. Gov. Kay Ivey has granted clemency one time in almost 10 years…
Who will tell Trump’s he’s not God’s anointed?
When Thomas Dewey went to sleep on election night in 1948, he was the president-elect. The Chicago Tribune already had sealed the deal with the headline, “Dewey Defeats Truman.” But early in the morning as the election results were tabulated,…
We have a mad king; now what?
President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address Feb. 24, the longest on record at one hour 47 minutes, didn’t offer much but we did get a clear picture of the state of the presidency. Trump’s own words stack the…
Both Huckabee and Carlson make outlandish claims about Israel
Mike Huckabee grabbed headlines in his recent interview with Tucker Carlson because of his outlandish claim that Israel ought to possess most of the land in the Middle East. But Carlson, true to form, also made some outlandish claims. Carlson…