This week, my new book, Defending Democracy from its Christian Enemies, officially releases. I am told that even before its release, it exceeded the publisher’s sales expectations for one full year. I am grateful for the high interest in the…
Let’s talk about those clergy resume ‘gaps’ for mothers
There are a lot of ways to approach the delights and demands of ministry and motherhood. Some clergy take a break from paid work when their children are young. Some accept part-time roles, whether because their households need the income,…
Now Robert Jeffress says the Ten Commandments are important
Robert Jeffress, after seven years of supporting a politician who routinely breaks most of the Ten Commandments, now wants to speak a word in favor of the commandments. In a Fox News opinion piece, “God’s Cure for the World’s Chaos…
Why we must go there
“The first part of the book was great, but then why did you have to go there?” I was talking to my brother-in-law’s book club, a group of Lutherans who call themselves the Churchies. (I don’t think they’ve registered that…
Should Christians curse?
I’m sure you’ve noticed the proliferation of profanity on television. The ubiquity of the f-word on dramas like Succession is stunning. The queen of all cuss words crops up so frequently that I started counting. I shouldn’t have bothered, somebody…
Never say never: The Now and Forever Windows at the National Cathedral
On Sept. 10, 2017, I sat in Washington National Cathedral as Dean Randolph Hollerith announced that after almost two years of discussion, prayer and discernment, the Cathedral Chapter had decided to remove a set of stained-glass windows donated by the…
For the Bible tells me so: The Bible and the Civil Rights movement
Many chapters in the story of the Civil Rights movement have been forgotten, modified or intentionally misrepresented. White Americans tend to imagine the movement as less controversial than it was, white resistance as less violent than it was, and the…
Listen to the woman: Cassidy Hutchinson
Cassidy Hutchinson, key witness in the January 6 committee hearings, revealed in her recently released book, Enough that she was sexually harassed and groped by Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, on Jan. 6, 2021. Hutchinson is a former…
Cats and dogs at Bubba-Doo’s
I’ve always been a dog person at heart. I grew up with dogs. Didn’t like cats much. The farm cats we had lived out in the barn at night. A time or two a day, they’d come around to see…
Idolatry is alive and well today
For much of the Hebrew Scriptures (what many Christians call the Old Testament) idolatry was the bane of Israel’s existence with God. As a product of the church, I always wondered how a people who experienced the power of God…
First they came for them, then they came for us
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a trade unionist….
Don’t call it burn-out
Earlier this month, Alexander Lang’s blog post “Departure: Why I Left the Church” lit up clergy social media. To date, it has garnered north of 380,000 views. The day it hit, I saw it on the Facebook feeds of three…