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…
The GOP has a transgender fixation, and Democrats aren’t helping
While the man in charge of the most powerful military in world history threatened to blow an entire civilization into oblivion, “never to be brought back again,” many of us wondered how his Christian followers would respond. Back in 2016,…
If you think Doug Wilson is fringe, remember Al Mohler’s influence
Don’t underestimate uber-Calvinist/Christian nationalist Doug Wilson. Recent Southern Baptist Convention history demonstrates how someone who seems far outside the mainstream eventually can wield exorbitant strength. In other words, if Al Mohler can become the most powerful person in the SBC,…
In conversation with Benjamin Boswell
Sixteen months ago, Benjamin Boswell was forced to leave Myers Park Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C. “Being called to Myers Park Baptist Church was a dream,” Boswell told me in a recent conversation. “This was the church I always said,…
The Antichrist is coming and is already here
Editor’s note: This article was first published on Feb. 11, 2025, and is republished here verbatim April 7, 2026. The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It…
Sexual abuse defies political labels but response to it differs
In 2020, I became part of a group called Christians Against Trumpism and Political Extremism. Cofounded by Joel Searby — an influential figure in independent, centrist political organizing — the group brought together a number of anti-Trump Christian voices to…
Can justice movements lose their soul?
Public life in America feels increasingly volatile. Anger saturates political discourse. Across the ideological spectrum, our public conversations often mirror the hostility they claim to resist. Many people reach for the language of prophecy to justify the indignation they assume…
Is James Talarico an Orc?
James Talarico has the Republican Party running scared. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott rarely mentions Gina Hinojosa, his Democratic rival, but he is going after U.S. Senate candidate Talarico with guns blazing. The assault on Talarico isn’t just coming from Texas,…