An animated version of George Orwell’s Animal Farm opens in theaters May 1 from “values-centric” Angel Studios. To quote the marketing to Christian conservatives, attempting to turn this violent, politically dense classic into a cute kids’ movie is a “cautionary…
‘Crimes against humanity’ and the fight for reparative justice
I recently traveled to Geneva to attend the fifth session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, an advisory body to the Human Rights Council of the United Nations. As executive director of JustFaith Ministries, I joined representatives…
Why the faculty’s stand at Southeastern Seminary matters now
In 1987, the faculty of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., faced what many faculty members at colleges and universities across the country are confronting today: The takeover of their institution by outside forces determined to impose ideological…
Church gives away $1 million to stop evictions
Not every headline out of Washington, D.C., or Northern Virginia is about division, Donald Trump or American dysfunction. Every now and then, the light breaks through the legislation and press conferences. Just miles from the corridors of power, in Alexandria,…
As Alliance gathers, questions and hope abound
On the brink of its 40th anniversary, the Alliance of Baptists met near Chicago April 17-19 facing unexpected turmoil about its future. This year’s annual gathering already was planned when the board of directors announced the sudden departures of Co-Directors…
What’s the risk of Trump’s fight with Pope Leo?
I don’t believe President Donald Trump understands the political risk of picking a fight with Pope Leo XIV. My best guess is he believes the unquestioning submission demonstrated by his fawning white evangelical followers exists among all his Christian followers….
What it means: Baylor provost announces retirement
This article has been updated in two ways since its original publication: New information has been added about an interim provost, and the president of the Faculty Senate has issued a categorical denial of any plan to take a vote…
Why Orban’s defeat portends bad news for Trump
The defeat of Viktor Orban in Hungary holds promise for America. In one way, Orban’s demise is a lesson in Political Science 101: Political leaders, even in a quasi-democracy, can’t beat a bad economy. Peter Magyar’s landslide victory in Hungary…
Why was the AI image of Trump as Jesus the last straw?
The AI image President Donald Trump posted of himself as Jesus is a sobering reminder not of how much Trump is obsessed with himself, but of how white evangelicals serve a higher power than Trump, and what that higher power…
War in Iran: A clash of fundamentalisms
Whatever its specious rationales and eventual outcomes, one underlying fact about the war in Iran is clear: What is largely fueling this dangerously combustible conflict is essentially a clash of fundamentalisms — Islamic, Jewish and Christian. When speaking of Islam generally, it is important to state emphatically that most of the world’s Muslims are peaceable peoples. (In my former role as a leader of the Alliance of Baptists, we entered…
Artemis II, the space race and the future of cooperation
On July 20, 1969, an estimated 650 million people — roughly 20% of the world’s population — gathered around television sets to witness history. Descending from a ladder out of the lunar module, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of…
What should stand in the way of transgender inclusion?
Christians are the least likely group of people to be accepting of transgender individuals. The most recent Pew Research Religious Landscape Study asked participants how they viewed greater social acceptance of people who are transgender. Of those who broadly identified…