America did not simply vote Tuesday night. America issued a warning, delivered a reckoning and reminded the political establishment that democracy still has a pulse. What began as a midterm election became something far greater: an extraordinary rejection of political…
Lessons from this year’s Theology Beer Camp
The theology nerds who show up at Theology Beer Camp are steering a middle path between Christian nationalism and anti-religious secularism. We think the Christian church went off the rails in the fourth century when it climbed into bed with…
The power of claiming elections are rigged
There was a time when saying a federal election was rigged would have been an extraordinary political claim. In the 2000 presidential election, with the outcome hanging by a chad and resting on only a handful of votes in Florida,…
Today’s UMC has only 3 megachurches
With Highland Park Methodist Church of Dallas now claiming to have disaffiliated with The United Methodist Church, there are only three U.S. churches with more than 10,000 members in the UMC, down from six in 2022. But that’s not the…
Narnia is not a test to separate faithful Christians from enemies
“Sometimes one story is the beginning of all the others,” the narrator proposes in the trailer for Greta Gerwig’s upcoming film, Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew, as a forest green furniture cover falls from the dark brown wardrobe. “Are you ready?” Polly…
Tracking the extremist shifts in the Republican Party of Texas
I read through this year’s platform of the Republican Party of Texas in horror. It is really, really bad. And then I wondered if it always had been this bad. Have the state party’s legislative priorities changed in any way…
Are Gen Z women and men diverging politically?
In 2024, Donald Trump made significant inroads among young men compared with his previous campaigns. Young women, however, remained among the voters least likely to vote for Trump, resulting in a wider gender gap among young voters than among men and women…
Why Americans should pay attention to the crisis in Israel
There are lessons for Americans to learn from what’s going on in Israel. One starting point is this 2024 book, Diary of a Crisis: Israel in Turmoil. The book began as essentially a daily notebook of political life in 2023…
Colonial Williamsburg gave them their church building back
Two hundred fifty years ago, enslaved Baptists founded a church. This month, Colonial Williamsburg gave them their building back. In 1776, on the outskirts of Williamsburg, free and enslaved Black Virginians began congregating for worship in defiance of laws that restricted such…
Trump likes big butts and he cannot lie
“By the way, I looked at one hell of a beautiful ass before,” President Donald Trump said as his supporters watched with anticipation. Then he pointed and declared, “Nicki Minaj!” Cheers from the MAGA faithful erupted. “That’s hard to miss!”…
Highland Park Methodist and the death of denominationalism
My son texted from Connecticut this morning to ask, “What’s all this hoopla with Highland Park UMC?” Having grown up in North Dallas and being a musician who has played in churches all over town, he has some sense of…
The birth of Christian nationalism: ‘I’ll teach them how to hate’
Editor’s note: This presentation was made to a gathering of the Forum on the Military Chaplaincy held at Brite Divinity School at TCU on Monday, Oct. 19. It has been edited only slightly for context. On a July evening in 2024,…