Among the many failings of capital punishment is its disproportionate use against people of color, its failure to deter violent crime and the spiritual and emotional trauma it inflicts on families, jurors and prison guards, death penalty abolitionist Michael Stone…
Exvangelical author seeks to confront and console
At 17, Blake Chastain decided he would become an evangelical pastor. A quarter century later, he’s an unofficial chaplain-activist for those who’ve left evangelicalism behind. His new book, Exvangelical and Beyond: How American Christianity Went Radical and the Movement That’s…
Matt Queen resigns Greensboro church
Nearly a month after pleading guilty to a felony charge of providing false information to law enforcement, Matthew Queen has resigned as pastor of Friendly Avenue Baptist Church in Greensboro, N.C. Queen, former evangelism professor and interim provost at Southwestern…
Ryan Walters cites states’ rights in call to end U.S. Education Department
Donald Trump’s victory last Tuesday prompted embattled Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters to prepare parents there for elimination of the U.S. Department of Education. On Thursday, Nov. 7 — two days after the presidential election — Walters sent…
Two young leaders exemplify the alarm over Trump
Donald Trump’s return to the White House is “the absolute worst case scenario,” according to religion scholar Matthew Taylor. “We’re in an epochal shift in American history of the worst sort, and while it does not spell the absolute end…
Voters in three states reject school vouchers
Voters in Colorado, Kentucky and Nebraska rejected taxpayer-supported voucher programs for private schools. The 2024 “no” votes may represent the most significant speed bump for “school freedom” since the movement launched in 1990. Red-state legislators support vouchers, which remain unpopular…
American Jews favored Harris over Trump, don’t support Netanyahu either
While American evangelicals formed the base of Donald Trump’s political comeback, he was soundly rejected by American Jews, according to a new national survey. Not only that, American Jews overwhelmingly oppose Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his handling of…
Amid jubilation over Trump victory, a call to rewrite history at the Smithsonian
Southern Baptist leaders and many other evangelical leaders expressed jubilation at Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential race, while one podcaster said it’s time to revise the exhibits at the Smithsonian to reflect a different worldview. Josh Daws, a Southern…
Social justice groups are exhausted, angry and determined
Among social justice advocates, reaction to Donald Trump’s election victory included sheer exhaustion, anger and renewed determination to continue the struggle for religious freedom, racial justice, LGBTQ rights and compassionate immigration reform. For Jacqueline Lewis, it was pretty much all…