As I began reading the now-infamous Project 2025 manifesto, Mandate for Leadership, I was immediately struck by the writing style used by the authors. The word choices, voice and tone of the document say a great deal about those behind…
Was America born as a Christian nation? It’s more complicated than that
No one markets products like evangelical preachers and Donald Trump. While Trump sells Bibles and golden sneakers and politics, Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Dallas is selling copies of his coffee table book version of his annual July 4 sermon…
Don’t believe Trump’s claims he will be ‘great for women and their reproductive rights’
Donald Trump’s controversial claim on his Truth Social platform that he will be “great for women and their reproductive rights” doesn’t break any new ground. All it does is raise suspicions: “Here he goes lying again.” And this is not the…
Many Africans root for Kamala Harris but some question her identity and policies
A few days after Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential race and backed his vice president, Kamala Harris, to run for the office, a message began making the rounds via WhatsApp among some Africans in church groups and elsewhere…
White Calvinist theology has gone to hell
“They’re going to hell,” declared Founders Ministry president and Southern Baptist pastor Tom Ascol. In a scene reminiscent of Oprah Winfrey’s “You Get a Car” giveaway, Ascol proclaimed, “Kamala Harris is going to hell, … (Anne) Branigin is going to…
The SBC still educates 1 in 5 seminary students
All six of the Southern Baptist Convention’s seminaries remain in the top 10 largest schools in the United States, according to new data from the Association of Theological Schools. Even Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, despite its recent financial…
The stories we tell about God and about ourselves matter greatly
Last weekend I was fortunate to attend a stop on “The Stories God Tells” tour featuring Jonathan Merritt (award-winning columnist at The Atlantic, and now children’s book author) and Matthew Paul Turner (New York Times bestselling author of several beloved…
Baptist Press compares GOP and Democratic platforms to SBC resolutions, and there are some surprises
It should come as a surprise to exactly no one that the platform of the Republican Party aligns more closely with resolutions passed by the Southern Baptist Convention than does the platform of the Democratic Party. What might be surprising,…
Southern Baptist megachurch pastor returns to misogyny as a text
Apparently, Josh Howerton must be getting jealous of JD Vance taking all the limelight for sacralized misogyny because he’s back in the news again with a new sermon series called “Fight For Your Family.” Earlier this year, the pastor of Dallas…