Does it matter if the electrician who comes to work at my house has a bumper sticker on the back of his truck that I find offensive? Does it matter if my hairstylist shares my political views? Does it matter…
When you’re so conservative you appear to be liberal
Full access to health care for all people, so that financial incomes no longer determine health care outcomes. A path to citizenship for immigrants seeking safety and welcome. Racial justice. Dignity and equality for all without regard for sexuality or…
The Holocaust Musaffecteum: Humbling irritations amidst genuine horror past and present
My family and I had been standing in line for nearly half an hour at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. Despite all that time and with prior experience at another high-security location, I still wasn’t ready…
What can we learn from children about being liberated from Kendomland?
April 2024 has been the month when the Kens of the Mojo Dojo Casa Churches came out in full force to flex their patriarchy power in preach-offs. It started with Josh Howerton telling women to crown dishonorable men as their kings and…
The problem with men’s conferences
The problem with Christian men’s conferences may not be the men or the speakers, it may be the very idea of a “men’s” conference. Such events have become popular in modern American churches, particularly among evangelicals. And sometimes they create…
Love, hate and Harry Potter
May 2 is International Harry Potter Day, the anniversary of the climactic Battle of Hogwarts in the final Potter book, when love overcomes hate and death. It’s a very Easter kind of occasion, and intentionally so, according to author J….
To save democracy, one place to start is in church
American democracy is under serious threat as we approach the 2024 election. Former President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement have normalized political violence in the wake of the January 6 riot, invoked poisonous and dehumanizing speech about opponents as…
My hybrid church
Let me tell you about my church. My church meets every Friday from noon until around 6:30 p.m. My church has no pews but plenty of folding tables and chairs as well as boxes and bins filled with groceries. My…
Graduation advice for seminarians and seminaries
I approached the end of my time at divinity school with relief and joy. It had been the best and worst three years of my life. I took apart everything I thought about God, myself and others and emerged with…
A new vision of Mary Magdalene and Jesus by Kelly Latimore
I awoke Easter Sunday morning to the following quote on X from Jacqui Lewis: “The first resurrection was proclaimed by women, and the church repaid them with centuries of lies that God didn’t want us to preach. For Jesus’ movement…
Amid concerns about video game-inspired violence, a ‘Christian’ game slays ungodly enemies
Twenty-five years ago, I sat in my living room as a junior in high school watching the Columbine shooting unfold. Seeing students my age filing out of the school, I had no idea how that moment would impact me or…
Politics, faith and mission: A conversation with David Dark
David Dark is one of my favorite writers and thinkers, and for years now, I often finish reading him and think, “I wish I’d written that!” A professor of religion and the arts at Belmont University and an authority on…