I want to make the modest proposal that there is a dimension of religion, including Christianity, that properly transcends world affairs to focus on the state of individual character and the health of the soul. I speak of the inner…
How any pastor, even if they’re not affirming, can love queer people
In recent news, a massive exodus of the church has come into focus. A New York Times series by Jessica Grose tracks and analyzes why “the largest and fastest religious shift is under way,” and back in the fall, Pew…
Making peace with my internal worship war
Walter “Buddy” Shurden is an esteemed historian who taught at Carson-Newman University, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Mercer University. In a series of lectures in 1980, Shurden described two broad streams of practice in Baptist churches he labels the Sandy…
Weed the people: Our doobie brothers and sisters
I grew up in a home where we believed anyone who touched an illegal drug was working for the devil. I was 12 when Nancy Reagan was the guest star on a very special episode of Different Strokes. She told…
Kelly Clarkson changes ‘Piece by Piece’ lyrics into self-empowerment anthem
During her 10-day Las Vegas residency, Kelly Clarkson surprised the audience last Saturday night by singing a song many thought she’d never sing again, “Piece by Piece.” But this time, she rewrote the lyrics into an anthem of self-empowerment. First…
The sacrament of the Southern summer shore
Growing up in a doubly landlocked state, we were lake people. When my sixth grade Girl Scout troop went to Savannah and Tybee Island, many of the girls never had seen the ocean before. Instead of beach trips, people would…
Flynn tells preachers, ‘Put the Bible aside and read the Constitution’
Gen. Michael Flynn received a preaching lesson from me last year in a Baptist News Global article, “Don’t Take Preaching Lessons from General Flynn.” I quoted Flynn’s suggestion: ““What (preachers) need to be doing is they need to be talking…
What was I made for? Not to be pretty or skinny
Analysis of Google search data by online fitness resource Total Shape has revealed that searches for “Margot Robbie diet” have exploded by 1364% in the United States, following the release of the Barbie movie on July 21. The Barbie movie has…
The Barbie movie and Christian calling as a struggle of creation
Like many other women around the world, my sister, Olivia, and I went together to watch the new Barbie movie. Yes, we are both adults, but we chose to see this movie because we thought it would be a funny,…
Why I keep writing about Donald Trump
Writing about Donald Trump has been a six-year cottage industry. Some observers say people are tired of Trump. This argument suggests writing about Trump only keeps him in the news cycle and does more harm than good. There’s merit to…
No wonder there’s no wonder
I received my earliest biblical and ecclesiastical knowledge in the Greek Orthodox Church, the church of my childhood. If I learned to experience wonder at all, I learned it there. Of course, experiencing earthly wonder included consuming huge feasts of…
Trump, ‘law and order,’ and evangelical hypocrisy
“There’s a new sheriff in town” is a familiar American idiom. It evokes the image of a strong man who has come into a lawless Western town to establish much-needed law and order. This is a man who would rule…