I’ve known two fundamental truths about myself since I was little: I am adopted, and I am Latina. A birth heritage of Mexican descent always has felt like an important piece of who I am. I was adopted at birth…
Bubba-Doo’s gets a new sign
In the early morning air, the trip to the hospital took on an urgency all its own. Somehow, the crispness of a breath outside at 6:30 a.m. merely punctuated the departure from normal. I was headed to the city for…
Conservative or liberal? Jesus widens our political landscape
It is commonly assumed that a conservative interpretation of Scripture will produce conservative political views. I believe this to be false. Using popular definitions, a conservative interpretation is based on the literal, face-value or plain meaning of the text. It…
Letter to the Editor: A response to Laura Ellis on abortion and Christian Realism
Letter to the Editor May 17, 2022 Dear Editor: We all have a right to be wrong. Laura Ellis’s article, “Why I am a Pro-Choice Christian and Believe You Should Be Too” — while carefully constructed — simply fails basic…
The Beloved Community and the heresy of white replacement: How ‘Beyoncé Mass’ gave me hope after the Buffalo massacre
At approximately 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, a white supremacist terrorist — motivated by a fear that whites were being “replaced” by immigrants and the growth of nonwhite Americans — massacred 10 people and injured three others in a predominantly Black…
The Holy Spirit: An advocate, comforter and encourager for times like these
The Holy Spirit can be the most underrated and misunderstood persona with the Divine Presence. Popular author Frances Chan suggests, “There is a big gap between what we read in Scripture about the Holy Spirit and how most believers and…
The air of gathered worship: A 12-Sunday challenge
My mother tongue is not church. However, I have been intimately engaged in the church since my mid-20s. Thus, I am now not only fluent in church, but can speak a couple of different dialects. Perhaps my 20-year deficiency is…
Choose Life: Putin reminds us how bad theology can turn nuclear
After a meeting with President Joe Biden in 2021, Vladimir Putin held a press conference in which he answered a question about future relations between Russia and the United States. He cryptically quoted Leo Tolstoy: “There is no happiness in…
I’m disappointed with the world but still wanting to hope
I’m disappointed with the world. I really did not expect to be here as a 58-year-old man. Call it optimism, theological progressivism, maybe naivete, but I didn’t expect to be so disappointed with human beings at this stage of the…
Racism from the perspective of a white man
I frequently hear white people claim we do not have a race problem in this country, and to prove their point, they say they like Black people and even have a few Black friends. Even though they are aware of…
‘The Religion of the Lost Cause’ is back, and it may be winning
An intelligent foreigner, making his observations at Washington at this time, would be puzzled to determine whether the Americans had a Government, or not. There are the names: The Executive, the Congress, the Judiciary; but what is the executive question,…
What is a Baptist?
You must have a sense of humor to talk about being Baptist these days, with all the craziness associated with the word and with many Baptists today who are a contradiction to what “Baptist” has meant through the centuries. If…