Churches should win awards for their innovation during COVID, as they created new ways to be church together while apart. Pastors responded to the needs of the community in a time when caring for community meant being separated from one…
What happens after Title 42?
The Biden administration has begun preparing to end Title 42, the COVID-19 order that authorizes the rapid expulsion of migrants, primarily to Mexico, on May 11. The administration will impose penalties for those who enter the U.S. without inspection while…
Broken covenant: An interview with Vann Newkirk II about ‘Holy Week,’ MLK and white supremacy
Vann Newkirk II is senior editor of The Atlantic and one of our most thoughtful and talented writers on race, politics and culture. I first met him years ago when Baylor University sponsored an annual film program on race and…
Hope in time of panic
We are living in a time of panic in America. How best can we respond to it as Christians? There is a racial panic, a church panic and a moral panic. These forms of panic are causing our nation to…
The good news and bad news of our latest mass murder
The good news is, it’s still against the law in Texas to kill an entire family in cold blood. The bad news is, it’s just fine in Texas for an unstable man to possess an AR-15 semiautomatic assault rifle and…
Christianity without love
One of them, an expert in the law, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with…
Lawyers must pursue Baptist predators and enablers
First, in 1985, came attorneys who began filing lawsuits on behalf of those who were sexually assaulted as children by Catholic clerics. Much later came prosecutors who slowly started to pursue criminal prosecutions. Then, even later, came grand juries and attorneys…
The stupidity of Christian nationalism
Editor’s note: This is the second opinion piece in a new series on religious liberty authored by BJC Fellows and made possible by a grant from the Prichard Family Foundation. “Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good…
Dear Tennessee and Montana: Stifling dissent is un-American, unpatriotic and anti-democracy
There’s a growing trend among American conservatives to “cancel” dissent. In Tennessee, three lawmakers were censured and two were expelled from the Legislature for participating in a rally about gun control. Now in Montana, Rep. Zooey Zephyr has been expelled…
Primitive Baptist Universalists? Are you kidding?
In the year 1741 at the Congregational Church in Enfield, Conn., Jonathan Edwards, pastor of the Congregational Church in Northampton, Mass., declared: The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some…
Is modesty the best policy during ‘Hot Girl Summer’?
As temperatures rise, Christian women must pack away their beloved infinity scarves, sacrificing the classic “Christian Girl Autumn” style to avoid heat-stroke in the brutal summer sun. The social media reversal of Christian Girl Autumn is the secular “Hot Girl…
Does the defense of Tucker Carlson stand a prayer?
Mixed messages galore follow in the wake of Tucker Carlson’s abrupt firing by Fox News. The latest theory is that Carlson was fired for giving a speech to the Heritage Foundation filled with religious overtones and a recommendation for people…