Those currently calling for the Southern Baptist Convention to expel any church with a woman carrying the title “pastor” appeal to two primary sources — beyond their own biblical interpretation — as justification: The Baptist Faith and Message doctrinal statement…
Old wounds and power hierarchies are in fashion at Bob Jones University
After consolidating his power over the Bob Jones University board of trustees last week, Chairman John Lewis won his face-off against university president Steve Pettit. Pettit, who has served as president of the ultra-conservative school since 2014, had given the…
Forget Alvin Bragg; Trump should really fear losing his evangelical base
More than his recent and unprecedented indictment, Donald Trump should be fearful of losing his evangelical base to another candidate willing to toe the line on evangelical orthodoxy on social policies. At least, that’s what pundits, politicians and pollsters are…
Preying preachers: Confronting clergy sexual abuse
There should be zero tolerance when it comes to clergy abuse of congregants. However, we learned years ago of how child sexual abuse by priests has been tolerated within the Roman Catholic Church. Since then, it has become unequivocally clear…
How the church of the Nashville shooting winds through history, gender wars, church discipline and the SBC sexual abuse study
Nashville is a city infused by religion, music and history, so when a tragedy like the school shooting at The Covenant School March 25 happens there, connections ripple across well-known names and places. And in this case, also across some…
Christian nationalism runs rampant as Christians and cult leaders alike believe Trump was chosen by God
The road to the Waco, Texas, airport was littered with tents called patriot stores selling MAGA merchandise last Saturday. They had been out since Wednesday in preparation for Donald Trump’s rally. Trump 2024 flags flew next to Confederate flags, “F***…
‘He Gets Us’ is feeding information to data analysts and, ultimately, conservative political groups
“He Gets Us,” the “biggest faith-related campaign in history,” showcased two commercials at this year’s Super Bowl. But it’s what’s happening after the ads that really matters for the campaign’s creators and backers. While capturing the attention of 113.1 million…
Why a potential indictment of Donald Trump will matter so little to most of his Christian supporters
The country is collectively holding its breath this week to see whether former President Donald Trump will be indicted for falsifying business records to cover up the payment of $130,000 of “hush money” to adult film actress Stormy Daniels on…
Increased frequency of church attendance correlates with decreased interpersonal trust
On March 8, statistician, pastor and author Ryan Burge tweeted a series of graphs showing responses from survey participants sorted by varying frequencies of religious service attendance. Participants answered the question, “Generally speaking, would you say that most people can…