In surveillance video that’s since gone viral, Pastor Tony Spell of Life Tabernacle Church in Baton Rouge, La., is seen outside his church when he reacts suddenly to a young man standing across the street. He runs across the multi-lane…
Supreme Court slides into partisanship
In siding with the Republican Party in yet another decision loosening campaign spending limits, the U.S. Supreme Court is risking credibility as the supposedly nonpartisan third branch of government. Beyond that, it continues to deny the corrupting influence of the…
The realists’ war and a call for strategic restraint
My mother was a medical student in Kabul when the realists came. They came first as Soviet advisers, then as mujahideen commanders, then as American strategists playing the long game against Moscow. Each faction arrived certain it understood the situation…
A Baptist reading of Pope Leo’s Magnifica Humanitas
Ever since the beginning of Pope Leo XIV’s papacy last May, there has been anticipation concerning his first encyclical letter. Oftentimes the subject and tone of a pope’s opening epistle is a significant marker of a given pontificate. For Pope…
How Baptists helped end slavery in the United States
Christians often have been reminded that some of their forebears supported slavery, but many do not know Christians ended slavery in the United States. Southern Baptists, in particular, frequently are reminded their convention began amid the defense of slavery. Yet…
Matthew Vines sets off a debate over what it means to be ‘queer’
One of the leading apologists for gay Christians has created a firestorm of controversy among Christians in the LGBTQ community with a column published in The New York Times June 30. Matthew Vines is the author of the op-ed headlined,…
There is no safe space in John Piper’s cruel theology
Jesus orchestrated the brutal murder of your teenage friend and her mom. So says John Piper in a recent “Ask Pastor John” podcast episode titled, “Sovereignty and My Murdered Friend.” The podcast begins by acknowledging it’s a “very heavy episode” before…
At this VBS, a skit simulates a violent execution
“Take him out! Blow him up! Take him out! Blow him up!” the children chant during a vacation Bible school program at Mt. Olivet Baptist Church in Lexington, Ky. With eerie music looming over the scene, the viral TikTok video…
Toy Story 5 brings the tech debate home, but it underplays the risks
The most improbable fantasy moment in Toy Story 5, Pixar’s latest entry in its unavoidable animated film franchise and likely one of the year’s biggest box-office hits, comes at an unexpected juncture in the story. (Some light spoilers follow.) It…
The end of white liberal Christian optimism
When Donald Trump was elected president a second time, something in me broke and has stayed broken. I now realize what broke was the version of white liberal Christian optimism I had unconsciously imbibed from my teachers and milieu. It’s…
Social media and rallies drive growth of Christian nationalism in UK
Christian nationalism is not only an insidious force in the far-right policies of the United States but is gaining influence across Europe. In the U.S. and abroad, Christian nationalism grows by spreading polarizing, sensational rhetoric through social media and public…
What Disclosure Day reveals about evangelicals’ fears
While the Trump administration and their voters seem increasingly hostile to releasing the Epstein Files, they’re continuing to release UFO files. The images, videos and written testimony have led to a constant stream of speculation and questions over the past…