Editor’s note: This article includes strong sexual language. On June 20, 2018, Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty, who performs under the stage name “Nicki Minaj,” tweeted: “I came to this country as an illegal immigrant @ 5 years old. I can’t…
Jesus’ cover bands: Some ‘Christians’ are making up their own songs
In 1980, I was invited to a James Taylor concert, but our church softball team was in the playoffs. If our right fielder got injured, I might get to play. I decided to put the team first and have regretted…
Seven strategies for dealing with doubt
Those who believe they believe in God but without passion in the heart, without anguish of mind, without uncertainty, without doubt and even at times without despair, believe only in the idea of God, and not in God himself. —…
How sharing ‘that meme’ perpetuates racist harm
Donald Trump, president of the United States, shared a meme. You know the one. Despite the fact Trump is somewhat of a memelord who posts on social media an average of 18 times per day, if you’re reading this article…
Peace ain’t what it’s cracked up to be
This past Jan. 15 — ironically, on the actual birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. — the 2025 Nobel laureate for peace, Maria Corina Machado, took her prize medal, encased in a gold (of course) and glass frame, to the…
Abuse isnʼt the result of sin; itʼs the result of omnipotence
What if power abuses are ultimately theological? Clergy abuse is so common, it has become a cliche. The new archbishop of Canterbury was accused of colluding with an abusive priest. In December, a federal judge ordered the New Orleans Archdiocese…
How Bad Bunny gave America a real reflection
When the Super Bowl halftime stage centered Grammy-winner Bad Bunny, Spanish was not a provocation — it was a translation of reality. What unfolded was not controversy but clarity: a portrait of the United States as it actually exists, a…
Waiting in the cold
On the 101st day of the venerable monks’ Walk for Peace from Fort Worth to Washington, D.C., I was able to offer my blessing and receive theirs. They were walking up historic U.S. Route 1 not far from where we…
When Christ knocks at the door
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” Revelation 3:20 often is heard as a quiet, private invitation — Jesus asking politely to enter an individual heart. But to John’s first hearers, living under the pressure of empire, this image…
Love on the loudest stage
When I watched Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio sing on the Super Bowl stage, I didn’t just hear music. I heard a prayer disguised as rhythm, a sermon stitched together with bass and breath. In a country that often tells people like me…
Mohler worries about dignity of presidency — from Clinton era
In what might be considered a mild rebuke of President Donald Trump’s posting of a racist video last week, Al Mohler spins out 1,500 words before he mentions the president by name. And then he says Bill Clinton was worse….
Letter to the Editor: Pro-life immigration policies
As a Baptist opposed to abortion, my pro-life position is rooted in seeing every human being created by God as holding immense value to our Creator. When we view humans as image bearers of the divine, we are obligated to treat one…