ICE came to Baton Rouge for Christmas, and at least one Southern Baptist pastor welcomed them. Lewis Richerson, pastor of Woodlawn Baptist Church, told The New York Times, “I would not knowingly extend Communion to an illegal immigrant who is…
Are all undocumented immigrants criminals?
In the debate over U.S. immigration policy, MAGA conservatives begin with the premise that anyone who crosses the border into the U.S. without advance permission is breaking the law. Therefore, the very act of entering the country is a crime….
Jeffress is a hypocrite testifying against Johnson Amendment
Robert Jeffress testified before the president’s Religious Liberty Commission this week how he and his downtown Dallas church have been persecuted, while failing to acknowledge his own persecution of other religious groups. The pastor of First Baptist Dallas publicized in…
Is this really the second-most-important book of the year?
I am puzzled that Christianity Today selected The Body God Gives: A Biblical Response to Transgender Theory, by Robert S. Smith, as the second most important book of 2025. Surely we have more serious concerns than another evangelical attack on…
Homan defies Scripture and church in defense of immigration policy
“The Catholic Church is wrong” stated Tom Homan, the Trump administration’s ICE man. Homan and other MAGA elites were triggered by a statement released by America’s Catholic bishops. Conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer screeched, “It’s sad to see the Catholic Church…
RFK Jr. and the perfect storm of idiocy threaten us all
What would it have been like to be on a fishing trawler in the Atlantic in the perfect storm? A “perfect storm” is a meteorological event aggravated by a rare combination of circumstances. The phrase became the title of a bestselling book in…
MAGA Thanksgiving may implode like a deep-fried turkey
There are indications this year’s MAGA family Thanksgiving gathering may be contentious. Pre-Thanksgiving arguments and disagreements threaten to spill into scraps and splits at the family meal. After more than 10 years of party loyalty and unity, the MAGA family…
Let’s change how we talk about immigrants
Conversations about immigration, especially on social media, reveal hard lines in the sand, a closed binary line of thinking, along with disgust, anger and outrage. Bring up immigration at the family Thanksgiving gathering, and the turkey may burn in the…
What if your father talked about women the way Trump does?
Aboard Air Force One, Bloomberg reporter Catherine Lucey asked President Donald Trump about being in the Epstein emails. Trump responded, “Quiet, quiet piggy.” The president also wagged his finger at her to give verbal backup to his insult. Why does…
If evangelicals had a pride parade
Over the last decade, advances in social justice have been rolled back by a renewed sense of evangelical pride. Donovan O. Schaefer in Whiteness and Civilization: Shame, Race, and the Rhetoric of Donald Trump, argues: “The success of Trump’s rhetoric…
Render unto Caesar?
The U.S. Treasury Department has announced plans to celebrate the country’s 250th anniversary in 2026 with a one-dollar coin depicting President Donald Trump. In a draft rendering, he appears alone on the obverse and on the reverse, his fist is…
What Mama said
“Mama said” ranks next to “Jesus says” for a country boy who grew up among honeysuckle and high-pitched Southern voices. These days, I sense “Mama said” and “Jesus says” are losing credibility. “Mama said” once provided social stability (good manners,…