Nashville pastor Greg Locke gained national notoriety for his rebellion against COVID precautions, his denial of the pandemic itself and his enthusiastic support for Donald Trump. Now he’s found new life as a demon slayer. “It was never about the…
Five charts that explain the desperate turn to MAGA among conservative white Christians
New data from PRRI’s Census of American Religion show continued decline of white evangelicals as a proportion of the American population. I prefaced my 2016 book, The End of White Christian America, with an “Obituary for White Christian America.” It read,…
Secular students feel isolated by Christian rhetoric, study shows
“And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.” But do they? Well, it depends on who “they” are. With the hymn “They’ll Know We Are Christians by…
Why is the SBC so influential? Look at the number of congregations
If you want to understand why Southern Baptists are in the news so much, one simple chart produced by Ryan Burge might show the answer. The SBC counts 51,379 congregations in the United States, far more than any other denomination….
We don’t need more ‘context’ to understand Josh Butler’s article on sex and the church
In the wake of The Gospel Coalition publishing a male-centric sexual fantasy about Christ penetrating the church, we are getting a clearer picture of how their alliance is characterized by carelessness and control in an attempt to build author platforms…
How viewing sex as an icon leads to the pornification of Christian women and the church as Christ’s bride
Editor’s note: The controversial article mentioned here was removed from The Gospel Coalition website sometime March 2, after generating a swirl of protest online. It is still available, however, in a excerpt of Josh Butler’s new book, Beautiful Union. The…
Why aren’t we talking about the theology that drives white Christian nationalism?
Poll after poll and webinar after webinar lays out the data on white Christian nationalism. The facts of this threat to both democracy and faith are well-documented. What’s missing from nearly every public discussion is the toxic theology that fuels…
In the SBC, a cord of three is not easily broken: Debates about sexuality, gender and abuse all twist together
There’s only one thing Southern Baptist Convention conservatives get more upset about than women serving as pastors: The slightest affirmation of LGBTQ persons. This truth was borne out in the SBC over the last week as leaders sought to put…
A war beyond borders: The rippling effect of the Ukraine war on Africa
When Russian President Vladimir Putin made good on his threat to invade and unleash war on Ukraine Feb. 24, 2022 — one year ago today — not many people in Africa, thousands of kilometers away, imagined they would pay a…
Is the dramatic global rise in unhappiness correlated with the continued drop in church attendance?
Unhappiness has been on the rise around the globe across the past 10 years, Gallup reports. This rise in unhappiness runs deeper than the worldwide dread felt during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. It has been brewing for quite some…
Bruce Willis diagnosed with FTD: How churches can respond pastorally to people with dementia
Actor Bruce Willis has been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, or FTD, his family announced Feb. 16. The disease, also known as frontotemporal lobar degeneration, has no treatment or cure. “While this is painful, it is a relief to finally have a clear…
He Gets Us, Part 1: The men and money behind the movement
Comingling faith and football has been a feature of the NFL experience for decades, but this year’s Super Bowl included something different. A group calling itself He Gets Us tweeted: “On February 12, the world’s biggest influencer is coming to…