When messengers from churches of the Southern Baptist Convention assemble in New Orleans for their annual meeting this week, they will consider an appeal from Saddleback Church of California to reverse its expulsion over the ordination of female ministers. (See…
Will Southern Baptists give abuse survivors stones for bread?
As the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention approaches next week in New Orleans, one line from the Gospel of Matthew keeps rising in our minds: “Who is there among you, who, if his son asks for bread, will…
Juneteenth emancipation then and now
“There were two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other.” Harriet Tubman (c. 1822-1913) Born into slavery in Maryland around 1822, Harriet Tubman dreamed of freedom….
I’m relearning how to take Pride
I grew up in a small town of about 25,000 people. Our high school mascot was a lion, so it was natural for us to speak in terms of having “pride.” The big block letters in the band hall read…
Finding hope in the church despite these two documentaries
I watched the documentary Shiny Happy People over the weekend. This documentary focuses on the cult following of Bill Gothard and, subsequently, the Duggar family. The Gothard teachings very much oppressed women and were based on power and control, so…
What I learned when I invited a friend to church who processes the world differently than me
I love my church. Inviting my friend to join me for Pentecost Sunday and lunch afterward was an easy, uncomplicated act. The service that day was jubilant; our people warmly inviting. There was much shaking of hands and a few…
A friendly conversation on being ‘woke’
“What is ‘woke?’” she asked. The question interested me because I knew it was not being asked as some kind of loaded “gotcha” question. She wanted to know. She honestly wanted my help. She, being a friend, older than I,…
The right’s zero-tolerance policy on Pride
In case you have any remaining doubt that the Religious Right wants to obliterate all appearance of LGBTQ people — to make them invisible once again — consider the dustup over a single photograph showing a small Pride flag atop…
The whole gospel of God for a church and nation in crisis
In a piercingly truthful and honest op-ed in The New York Times titled “What Christian Nationalism Has Done to My State And My Faith Is A Sin,” Susan Stubson, a prominent Wyoming Republican, for whom her conservative politics and her…
The rhetorical genius of Rick Warren
I look forward to Rick Warren addressing the Southern Baptist Convention at its annual meeting in New Orleans, June 13-14. Warren deserves more credit for his decision to publicly dissent from the SBC ruling expelling the church he founded from…
Remembering the Tulsa race massacre of 1921
On the evening of May 31, 1921, a mob of white people attacked the homes and businesses of Black people who lived in the thriving Greenwood community — considered the “Black Wall Street” — of Tulsa, Okla. Throughout that night…
The Respect for Marriage Act helped de-escalate the culture wars
Editor’s note: This is the fourth opinion piece in a new series on religious liberty authored by BJC Fellows and made possible by a grant from the Prichard Family Foundation. For years, media narratives have cast religious freedom advocates…