The internet age has rapidly intensified the ability for conspiracy theories to spread across large populations of people, but why are Christians so susceptible to conspiratorial thought? Increasingly these grand narratives regarding the alleged machinations of nefarious figures are making…
Is QAnon a prophet or provocateur? And how should Christians respond?
To some, it’s the beginning of a new religious movement. For others, a puzzle or a game. For still others, it is community, a gathering of like-minded folks who enjoy each other’s company and share a deep passion. But for…
Q&A with Leslie Dorrough Smith on American attitudes about sex scandals
Sex scandals are nothing new to American politics and yet have an uncanny ability to rouse the American public. Religious studies scholar Leslie Dorrough Smith’s recent work, Compromising Positions: Sex Scandals, Politics, and American Christianity, argues that this phenomenon is…
Death of a bishop, birth of a new denomination intertwined for UMC
The untimely death of a visionary African bishop and the disclosure of a traditionalist faction’s plans for a new denomination have reset the playing field for the United Methodist Church’s future. With that reset have come allegations of neocolonialism and…
Millennial, Gen Z Christians support missions — with reservations
Christian missionaries face a world of challenges even in “normal” times — unfriendly governments, hostile social and religious forces, cultural barriers and language struggles, to name a few. Now, a global pandemic has made the basic acts of travel and…
If elected, Harris would be fifth Baptist vice president; the first was a slaveholder
If Joe Biden wins the November election, his running mate announced Aug. 11 will become the fifth Baptist vice president. Sen. Kamala Harris attends Third Baptist Church in San Francisco. However, as a Black and Asian American woman, Harris stands…
Six ways ‘American Gospel’ is small-minded and abusive
I grew up so terrified of God’s wrath that I drove through a stoplight while staring at my speedometer, afraid I’d lose my salvation for breaking God’s law in Romans 13 by going 36 mph in a 35-mph zone. When…
What about the science, faith and ethics of a coming coronavirus vaccine?
The race to find a safe and effective vaccine against the novel coronavirus is heating up, as society longs to get back to some sense of normalcy. But finding a vaccine is only one step on the journey that also…
In ‘demon sperm’ theology, the problem is not the demons
Stella Immanuel — the Cameroonian-American doctor at the heart of this country’s most recent culture war skirmish over the novel coronavirus and the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment — believes certain medical conditions are the result of “evil deposits”…