I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Just when I think the so-called “Christian” enablers of Trump can’t go any lower, they do. It makes me wonder if there is any bottom to the cesspool of their devotion to…
The sad consequences of the end times theology and entertainment of my youth
When I was growing up in a Baptist church, I was fascinated with end times theology. It was not until later in life that I realized how ahistorical and unscholarly most of that theology was. I read the Left Behind…
Trump the totem
Last week’s historic verdict is worth rehearsing. On May 30, Donald J. Trump became the first former president to be convicted of a crime. Twelve ordinary citizens unanimously found Trump guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in…
Witch hunt finds Trump guilty
My children gleefully learned about labeling women “witches” from the movie The Princess Bride. In an infamous scene, while attempting to heal the mostly dead Westley, Miracle Max is accosted by his wife, Valerie. He responds with, “Get back, witch!”…
A conversation with Jason Carter, grandson of Jimmy Carter
We’re all amazed that President Carter has been on hospice for so long. I know this was an intentional decision on his part. What kind of response have he and the family gotten to his public praise for hospice? His…
No, Mr. Trump, America is not going to hell
After Donald Trump’s conviction in his Manhattan trial, he said, “Our whole country is being rigged” and “has gone to hell.” Then he added, “We’re a nation in decline, serious decline. Millions and millions of people, pouring into our country…
First we had election deniers; now we have justice deniers
This time, the problem is not with America’s justice system; the problem is with conservative evangelicals’ warped view of what justice means. The folks always screaming about “law and order” don’t really care about law and order when it works…
On the Trump trial, the SBC and accountability
What happened in New York City Thursday? For one brief moment, in my 72 years, I saw a nation united around one idea that the rule of law still works as it was intended. Transparency hurts at times. In shortly…
It’s complicated: Naming our bias
I began my work as senior editor of Good Faith Media almost three weeks after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks against Israel. I never have been an expert on the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Still, I have followed…
Edwin Edwards and Louisiana taught Donald Trump and MAGA how to dance with the devil
As I watched the announcement of Donald Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts May 30, I thought to myself, “I’ve seen this show before.” Indeed, I was living in Louisiana in 2001 when Gov. Edwin Edwards was convicted of racketeering…
Politics, faith and mission: A conversation with Brian McLaren
Brian McLaren has been one of the most important voices in American Christianity for a quarter-century, and his new book, After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart, is a hard and beautiful and necessary book about how…
The canary in the American judicial mine Christians are ignoring
With so many warning signs of rising theocracy being ignored, what’s one more? Metaphorically speaking, in terms of U.S. religion and politics, we might pass off our “shortness of breath” over politicians’ chronic dishonesty as our just being out of…