A week before the election I was in a group of clergy where we were sharing our anxiety about the election, expressing our apprehension that Donald Trump would be elected president, and casting about for the meaning of it all….
When ‘thy kingdom come’ is a threat more than a blessing
Every election season since I left the final church I was a part of in 2019 is a reminder of why I don’t think I could ever go back. And I know many ex-evangelicals agree with me. I’m writing this…
This year, I’m a single-issue voter
I used to think single-issue voters were totally off-base. I mean, everything’s connected. Political issues never stand alone. The solution to whatever problem motivates the single-issue voter will always affect other problems and other citizens. A good example is an…
Thanks to the college student who prescribed me an anti-pride-essant
Thoughts of suicide hounded me even though I was preaching every Sunday about abundant life. I had suffered from depression and anxiety long before the stress of Ph.D. work. Now the pain was compounded by taking a double full-time course…
Jesus is still Lord on Wednesday, Nov. 6, and every other day after that
Tomorrow — Tuesday, Nov. 5 — registered voters will elect the 47th president of the United States of America, providing one of the candidates secures the necessary 270 electoral votes. A third of the U.S. Senate will be elected and…
This election is about whether American women are more than breeders
My paternal grandfather was a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force and the personal pilot for the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan from 1967 to 1970. My father actually graduated from the American School in Kabul in 1970 before he, his…
Vote for us, because in the economy of God, there is no them
I never have told anyone — not even my children — how to vote. Today, though, I shall ask you to consider for whom to vote, if you have not already. I encourage you to vote for your neighbor, for…
Do I hate Donald Trump?
One of the accusations I hear leveled by evangelical Trump supporters is that people who oppose him do so not out of principle but out of mere hatred of him. Do I hate Donald Trump? I try as best I…
What will people say about American Christianity in 200 years?
A few weeks ago, I attended my niece’s wedding. While my wife and I waited for the service to begin, I found myself in a conversation with the young minister who was conducting the wedding ceremony. Although he had attended…
From empire to freedom: The hope of our faith
Facing the reality of governmental oppression, as a form of imperial reaction and suppression to the revolutionary movement of the church, early Christians anticipated unavoidable suffering. Living within an autocracy, anyone or any movement that stood in contradiction to this…
Donald Trump, Teletubbies and end times theology
What do Donald Trump, Teletubbies, Starbucks coffee cups and other forms of Christian persecution have in common? More than you might think. As someone raised in a very conservative Southern Baptist church in Orlando, Fla. — I would not go…
How to preach about the election
Only one Sunday remains until Election Day. With a candidate on the ballot who promises to be a dictator on day one, the stakes could not be higher — for the church or for democracy. The truth is the vast…