Here’s a sure way to know Southern Baptist institutions and some Baptist universities don’t think they’re accountable to anyone outside their inner circle: The perpetual refusal to comment on, or even acknowledge, questions from media. A year ago this fall,…
Are we all guilty of mass shootings?
Here we are again. Another mass shooting. Another set of grieving families and friends. More calls for sensible gun control. More fist-shaking about Second Amendment rights. More inaction. In the 2016 movie The Limehouse Golem, the catchphrase of entertainer Dan Leno…
The youngest victims of war
The news stories of what has been happening in Israel and Gaza since Oct. 7 have been difficult to absorb. The horrific loss of life, utter destruction of neighborhoods and the terrifying abduction of civilians of all ages have seemed…
The duplicity of an SBC amicus brief
In keeping with nationwide trends, the Kentucky legislature extended the time period in which child sex abuse survivors can bring civil lawsuits and allowed that their lawsuits can be asserted not only against perpetrators, but also against institutions that fail to…
WWJP? A checklist for testing the Christlikeness of your pastor’s ‘sermon’ about Israel
It’s been said many Christians have two things for Sunday lunch: fried chicken and fried pastor. I once got a Sunday afternoon phone call lambasting me for a Memorial Day homily during which veterans lit a candle not only for…
Sometimes reforming: Martin Luther, the church and the rest of us
In short, I will preach it, teach it, write it, but I will constrain no one by force, for faith must come freely without compulsion. Take myself as an example. I opposed indulgences … but never with force. I simply…
My brief life as a megachurch pastor
For two brief years, I served as senior pastor of a megachurch. Then quickly, unexpectedly, and mercifully, it was over. This article tells my story. Months before being appointed to the church, my bishop indicated it might happen. Their pastor,…
What really happens with Christian deconstruction on a college campus?
“Deconstruction” is a buzzword today for people who seek to unravel the constrictive faith of their childhoods. But the same word might be used to describe the educational process that often happens when students like me go off to college….
Maybe there are some ‘good guys’ in this war after all
I take it back. There are some “good guys” in the war between Israel and Hamas: The innocent civilians being slaughtered by both sides. Two weeks ago, I wrote a column saying there are no “good guys” in this war…
I can’t stop dreaming about our clergy pedophile, but maybe this will help
Just a few days after my 45th birthday, I had another dream about my childhood pastor. This final dream was the coup de grâce: My great-grandparents’ home was ablaze. It was dark. Early morning still, and I was standing outside, talking…
Undoing the damage of conversion therapy
In 2021, the documentary Pray Away released on Netflix, detailing the history and harms of conversion therapy. It chronicles the rise and fall of Exodus International, whose primary mission was to make people who were “struggling with homosexuality” straight. During…
‘Social media posts never change minds’ — and other lies I love to hate
Note: This article includes significant discussion of profanity. The previous record for most f-bombs and insults aimed at me in an e-message was from a graduate student’s mother who was upset with her adult child’s grade in my class….