One of the best-known therapists and coaches working with people suffering religious trauma has been sanctioned by the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists for violating the group’s Code of Ethics on boundaries. In a letter dated July 25,…
On not getting over fundamentalism
This past week, I received a link to an article on the Christian news satire website, The Babylon Bee. The article was titled “Baptist Conclave to Choose A New John MacArthur.” It was clever and funny. It pictured 12 older…
Mark Driscoll, Chip Gaines and toxic Christian masculinity
“You’re the one who farted in your own elevator, so you’ve gotta smell it,” said Mark Driscoll in a video reacting to a 40-second clip of Joanna and Chip Gaines’ new show, Back to the Frontier. The show aims to…
Evangelicals turning on Chip and Joanna is about disgust, not love
Chip and Joanna Gaines, a beloved Christian couple and reality television celebrities, stand accused by fellow evangelicals of being traitors to the MAGA evangelical understanding of Christian faith. Their act of betrayal: Casting a gay couple with twin boys on…
Might what’s happening at Belmont explain what’s happening at Baylor?
When I read about U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles attacking Belmont University, all I could think about was Baylor University. Both are historically Baptist schools, although Belmont in Nashville, Tenn., has more definitively broken with Baptist control than has Baylor in…
10 Bible verses Christian nationalists take out of context to seize power
Christian nationalists are world-class experts in seizing power by taking Bible verses out of context. Growing up, my independent Baptist high school constantly used Philippians 4:13 as proof we could win the state championship, Jeremiah 29:11 as proof God would…
Religious attacks on science
The current MAGA evangelical attacks on science threaten to make America less safe, less healthy and much dumber. This anti-science compulsion is no surprise. Evangelical Christianity in the United States has rejected science at least since Charles Darwin. There is…
Getting over fundamentalism
Forty years after that long hot summer of 1925 in Dayton, Tenn., where the Scopes “Monkey Trial” was held, Southern Baptist preacher Carlyle Marney vividly recounted his memories. His parents were daily readers of the Knoxville News Sentinel, which claimed…
How a group of Presbyterians is trying to reshape the SBC
Imagine, if you will, an enormous wooden horse encamped outside the Southern Baptist Convention headquarters. Downtown Nashville’s bachelorettes, bar hoppers and backup singers stop and stare at the giant horse with “Center for Baptist Leadership” emblazoned on its barrel. William…
Intellectual virtue as the antidote for this moment
Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the…
2024 election explained in three metaphors
How Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, after exhaustive evaluations by pundits, pollsters and political scientists, remains an enigma. I read all the number-crunching explanations I could Google. The Pew Research quantitative analysis of the election results was the…
Orwellian ‘newspeak’ and political censorship on social media
Just days after Donald Trump’s inauguration, I wrote an analysis piece examining the rising sentiments of fascism in the U.S. political climate. Social media users felt they were in the musical “Cabaret” — a play that portrays the rise of…