There are moments when a simple riddle reveals more about our moral life than a shelf of political theory. The old puzzle about the traveler going to Saint Ives is one of those small, durable stories that has survived precisely…
Is pluralism possible under an evangelical Christian God?
What does pluralism mean for people who believe there’s only one way to God, who believe God reigns, but who live in a nation that values liberty and justice for all? This is the question many Christians are wrestling through….
Democracy’s decline tests new United Methodist Church
No United Methodist who knows anything about the denomination’s history can feel anything but profound sadness at what’s happening to the American democratic republic. Good and bad, The United Methodist Church and its predecessors have shaped and been shaped by…
Here’s what’s different about clergy sexual abuse claims in UMC
One of the most consequential rulings on clergy sexual abuse in the entire history of American jurisprudence has received virtually no media attention. Its defendant? The United Methodist Church. In a 2024 ruling in Chestnut v. United Methodist Church, the…
Greg Abbott is on a campaign against religious liberty
One year ago, I wrote about how Texas Gov. Greg Abbott amplified a racist, Islamophobic tweet to further a conspiracy theory about a North Texas Muslim community. The conspiracy was that the planned community, EPIC City, was going to enact…
What Putin’s Altar Boy offers American Christians
Juha Meriläinen, church historian at the University of Helsinki, has written a forthcoming book titled Putin’s Altar Boy. In it, he sounds a warning about the dangers of a church under the influence of the state. Patriarch Kiril, the head…
End-times prophets say we’re about to find out aliens are demons
“The rumors are real,” pastor Mike Signorelli wrote on X. “I was brought into a private briefing with other pastors. No phones, no cameras, no recordings. We were told plainly: Disclosure is coming, and what follows will shake the faith…
Something awful is happening in Sudan, and you don’t know it
The largest humanitarian crisis in the world isn’t happening in Ukraine, or in Gaza, but in Sudan. There, 33.7 million people (out of a total population of 55 million) are in dire need of aid, and the world has forgotten…
A constitutional republic, if you can keep it
Too often, when I hear or read political pundits, both conservative and liberal, refer to the United States as a “democracy,” I want to scream, “We are a constitutional republic, not a democracy!” and a few choice other words directed…
Our own personal Jesus
For $1.99 per minute, you can speak directly with Jesus Christ — or, at least, an imagined AI approximation. Just Like Me, the brainchild of Chris Breed, bills itself as a “groundbreaking AI platform that lets anyone talk face-to-face with…
What it means: SBC membership shrinks as US population grows
Although the Southern Baptist Convention remains the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, only about 3.6% of the 342 million Americans were members of SBC churches in 2025. Not only has membership in SBC churches been on the decline…
Newsboys lawsuit exposes underlying finances of CCM business
In the summer of 2001, I risked getting expelled by Bob Jones University for the chance to watch Michael W. Smith in concert at a Franklin Graham crusade at Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C. This was just one year removed…