With a new year dawning, most of us have our minds attuned to new chapters and fresh starts. However, January brings endings as well as beginnings, and one such ending is especially important if you or someone you know needs…
Today’s evangelicals are medieval crusaders at heart
At the dawn of 2022, forget the culture wars; this is a postmodern crusade, and the Christian soldiers are on the march. Evangelical Christians are medieval crusaders at heart. In the 11th and 12th centuries, Christian Crusaders went to war…
Why have so few U.S. congregations experienced even a single COVID death?
With more than 800,000 lives lost to COVID-19 in America alone, observers might wonder why some U.S. congregations have taken a seemingly cavalier approach to fighting the pandemic. One possible answer emerged this week from new survey data released by…
Who needs the church when we have the biblical worldview?
After his second visit to New York in 1939, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrestled with the character of Protestant churches in America versus those in Europe in an essay titled “Protestantism without Reformation.” Even as he introduced his argument, which plays up…
Beauty out of ashes: Something’s stirring in the rubble of Lebanon
You think America has problems? Spend a week or two in Lebanon, and you’ll get a taste of what real — as in existential — problems are. Even Scrooge would sympathize. Imagine scrounging barely enough food to eat once, maybe…
Progressives have a problem telling their story
George Lakoff argues that progressives are in despair because they are trying to do 21st century politics with an 18th century mind. Progressives are clinging to an unworkable model of reason. Another of Aristotle’s persuasion tropes is sweeping across America –…
Tim Tebow and Demaryius Thomas and the world we see
After having what will one day be recognized as a Hall of Fame NFL career, Demaryius Thomas died unexpectedly of what police are calling “a medical issue” in his Georgia home on Dec. 9, 2021. He would have turned 34…
Americans growing less religious and more strictly religious at the same time
In the current sociology of American religion, there are two trends moving in opposite directions. The “nones” are growing in number, while among those who identify as Christian, varieties of fundamentalism are growing. Religion researcher Ryan Burge recently summarized this…
Look at the big picture to see the reckoning happening on sexual abuse
Events often occur in a series spaced out far enough that it becomes difficult to understand the comprehensive nature of the series. Often the space between the events makes it appear the events are episodic. Such is the case with…