Tragic acts of violence often lay bare the gap between what a system claims to be and what it actually enables. In the story of Alex Pretti’s murder, we come face to face with whether patriarchy — long sacralized as…
Is Scott Adams in heaven?
‘Dilbert’ cartoonist Scott Adams died Jan. 13 after a short battle with prostate cancer. Adams was known for his wry satire of white-collar office life through his long-running comic strip, which appeared in 2,000 newspapers in at least 70 countries…
Burge’s Vanishing Church shows high costs of politicized churches
Ryan Burge, perhaps our top “quantitative scholar of American religion,” makes numbers speak, and in his latest book they tell the sad story of how politics trumped creed in evangelical churches, leaving “no place for moderates,” many of whom departed….
As religious leaders decry Pretti’s death, SBC president is silent
The president of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination apparently had nothing to say about the murder of a 37-year-old ICU nurse in Minneapolis last Saturday. But Clint Pressley had quite a lot to say a week earlier when a group…
What should we learn from Hillsong and Sam Collier’s story?
When Sam Collier resigned from Hillsong Church in 2022 amid the unraveling of the church’s U.S. leadership and growing scrutiny of its internal culture, many assumed his public ministry had reached an inflection point, if not an end. However, three…
2025 was the year Congress gave power to Trump
Last year saw an overactive president untamed by an underactive Congress. In 11 months, President Donald Trump signed 225 executive orders in 2025, a new record, while the House of Representatives passed only 70 bills, making it one of the…
On the ground in Minneapolis: It’s an occupation
They go by call signs like “Mr. Grinch,” “Ratatouille” and “Cold Toes.” They work within pods to patrol their neighborhoods by car, on foot and on bicycle. They sign up for shifts and have protocols for how to document ICE’s…
History mocks us
María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner, gifted her Nobel to U.S. President Donald Trump in a Jan. 15 White House meeting. Trump has long coveted the prize, something that seemingly stems from his…
Originalism is out, Common Good Constitutionalism is in
It’s January 2026, time for fashion magazines and style mavens to let followers know what’s “In” and what’s “Out” this year. When it comes to legal theories, judiciary “fashionistas” say originalism is definitely on its way out. Birthed by Robert…
Why it matters that this pastor says he wants other women
Fresh on the heels of countless pastors responding to the Philip Yancey 8-year affair with “it could have been any of us,” SBC Texas megachurch pastor Jonathan Pokluda asked rhetorically on an Instagram story “Why do I have a desire…
Let’s talk about how Cities Church treats women
“David Easterwood is a pastor here. He is also the director of the Field Office for ICE in St. Paul. So someone who claims to worship God, teaching people in this church about God, is out there overseeing ICE agents,”…
First year of Trump 2.0 brings jarring changes and low approval
Donald Trump’s return to the Oval Office brought an unprecedented use of presidential power and significant change to the country and the world. Polling shows he’s under water at the end of his first year, with only 40% of Americans…