We typically think of proverbs as sources of guidance about how to live. However, the kind of guidance you can get from a proverb is tricky, since different proverbs appear to give conflicting advice. There’s the admonition to “Look before…
Learning to expand the table by becoming an ally
Recently, I was sitting at the local ice cream parlor with my wife and some friends when in walked another family we all knew. My friend Joe immediately got up, went over to an unused table and began to move…
A pastoral letter to transgender children
Dearest trans child of God, You are loved through and through. You are loved just as you are in this moment, and in every step of your becoming. I will always believe you when you tell me who you are….
Five takeaways from the Report on Christian Nationalism and January 6
On Feb. 9, Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, in tandem with their movement “Christians Against Christian Nationalism” and in partnership with the Freedom From Religion Foundation, held a livestreamed event that introduced their new comprehensive report on the influence…
Faithful discomfort: Why white Americans need to be offended
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott recently announced his support for a Parent’s Bill of Rights, a new but oh-so-familiar offering from conservatives that seeks to bar librarians and teachers in public schools from offering access to facts and stories that stand…
How Canadian hockey history explains white evangelicals in the age of Trump
I was making omelets in the kitchen when I heard the familiar voice of Foster Hewitt coming from the living room. I grew up listening to hockey games on the radio, and Hewitt’s “He shoots, HE SCORESS!!!” is imbedded in…
Choose you this day whom you will serve, Truth or Trump
We’ve now reached the apex of America’s deconstruction of the meaning of truth. The nation’s most notorious pathological liar just launched a new social media platform called Truth Social — because he got kicked off mainstream social media platforms for…
Change is good — except when it isn’t
My son and firstborn — the crying bundle I held in my arms in the delivery room, the little kid who seldom won at hide-and-seek because he couldn’t stop giggling, the boy who couldn’t beat me at wrestling because I…
‘Once America decided killing children was bearable, it was over’
Can activism be an expression of faith? Can the practice of my faith, as an activist against violence and all the evils related to it, fulfill the Great Commandment? What might happen if people of faith intentionally examined the nature…
Of pronouns and postures among Baptists and Catholics
On Feb. 15, reports of an Arizona Roman Catholic priest’s assumed liturgical blunder — using “we” rather than “I” in baptisms over a decade — flooded news feeds across a wide spectrum. I was not surprised that Religion News Service…
Health care crises reveal our nation’s character flaws
This is a column about crises and injustices in the health care system in America. I interpret these crises and injustices as an indictment on the character and the governance of this country. What follows is inspired by hard personal…
Beyond heedlessness: Finding the sacrament of an ‘us’ without a ‘them’
Evangelicals have made it clear: Don’t call us racists. We are not racists. Rather than debate the issue, I volunteer to take the word “racist” off the debate table. Instead of calling evangelicals “racists,” I will use the word “heedless.”…