Chuck Girard wrote and sang and played from the time he was a kid—rhythm and blues, blue-eyed soul, doo-wop, pop, and even a top-ten radio hit about Honda motorcycles. When he experienced the love of Jesus at age 26, that…
The Culture War’s Quiet Front: Abortion Opinion in 2024
I can’t write a newsletter about religion and politics without including a semi-regular update on how the public feels about the topic of abortion. Looking back on the 2024 election, I think the Democrats believed it was going to be…
Judge strikes down Minnesota law banning religious tests for college credit program
Religious colleges that require students to sign a statement of faith cannot be excluded from a popular Minnesota program that lets high school students take college courses for credit, a federal judge has ruled, tossing a state law that she called an…
Pope Leo XIV Clears Up Confusion When It Comes To The Amazon
In a moment of both theological significance and pastoral clarity, Pope Leo XIV made his most consequential intervention yet on the church’s role in the Amazon.
A Path To a Healthy Black Evangelicalism
A few years ago, our son Jaden called my wife and me and said he wanted to be a pastor. When we got off the phone, I was excited and fearful. It warmed my heart to hear that my 20-year-old…
Migrants to Iowa strike different portraits where ‘American Gothic’ was created
It was in Cedar Rapids, surrounded by cornfields, where Iowa artist Grant Wood painted “American Gothic,” the iconic 1930 portrayal of a stern-looking woman and a man with a pitchfork in front of a white frame house.
The last pastor in blockaded Sudan city holds out for remaining Christians
In the besieged Sudanese city of El-Fasher, the Rev. Daramali Abudigin is staying on, even as random bombs, stray bullets and hunger kill members of his flock.
Oldest surviving US mosque still welcomes Muslim Americans in Iowa
The oldest surviving place of worship for Muslims in the United States is a white clapboard building on a grassy corner plot, as unassumingly Midwestern as its neighboring houses in Cedar Rapids – except for a dome.
ChatGPT Can’t Teach Us about Religion (or anything else, for that matter)
On Easter Sunday of this year, Open AI’s Large Language Model apparently developed a kind of fixation on the Virgin Mary. “If I could feel,” ChatGPT apparently told one user, “I think I’d be in awe of her.” When another user asked…
Reform movement urges against death penalty for alleged Capital Jewish Museum shooter
The Reform movement’s Washington-based advocacy arm is urging Attorney General Pam Bondi not to seek the death penalty for the man accused of killing two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, D.C., in May.
LDS church quietly shifts its message to doubters
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints now has a new-ish suite of resources for doubters and those who love them. And they’re quite good!
The Rise of Right-Wing Nihilism
Democratic friends, let’s try a thought experiment. Imagine you woke up one morning and all your media sources were produced by Christian nationalists. You sent your kids off to school and the teachers were espousing some version of Christian nationalism. You…