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….
I imagine Jesus saying to Trump: ‘Not everyone posting a sketch of me with them will enter the kingdom of heaven’
An anonymous fan of ex-president Donald Trump produced a sketch of Jesus sitting in court with Trump, which Trump then posted on his Truth Social platform. The closest I can come to understanding this travesty is to admit the desire…
Jim Jordan shows us the danger of eating our own children
Donald Trump, in a prerecorded statement released Oct. 15, said: “The Republicans eat their young; they really do, and it’s a terrible statement but it’s true.” He added: “And that’s the problem with so many in our party; they just…
What dying patients are teaching me about the end of life
We lay down trophies and accolades After visiting a well-known aging pastor and his wife, I thought about the couple’s influence among their peers, church, community and denomination. Most of this had vanished because of their declining health and years…
Inside U2’s ‘cathedral in Las Vegas’
People could perhaps be forgiven for cynically receiving U2’s 2023 Super Bowl ad announcing a Las Vegas residency inaugurating The Sphere as an indication that almost five decades after their 1976 founding, the Irish rock band has arrived at semi-retired…
In the footsteps of James Baldwin: An excerpt from The Gospel According to James Baldwin
This week, I’m returning to the Shomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem to read letters from James Baldwin to literary, political and Civil Rights leaders. Then on Sunday, at the historic Church of the Incarnation on Madison…
Republicans, Democrats, PHNs and cutting the baby in half
I don’t think I have the passage right. But first, let me explain. The Republican House leadership fell at the beginning of the month when the House approved Matt Gaetz’s motion to vacate the position of speaker of the House….