Netflix recently debuted a documentary titled “Pray Away.” This film chronicles the rise and fall of Exodus International, an evangelical-based therapy group that claimed to be able to change the orientation of LGBTQ people. This type of therapy, commonly known…
Andrew Cuomo, #MeToo, and hypocrisy
The list of public figures demanding Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s resignation is growing. The investigation into sexual harassment complaints yielded credible evidence he harassed 11 women. Now he faces the possibility of impeachment. Just last year, people celebrated Cuomo’s response to…
How Logsdon Seminary changed one life who is now changing other lives through affordable housing
When I look back, from my retirement office recliner, at the 18 years I invested as a professor at Logsdon Seminary, I feel deep gratitude for young friends and mentees who are replicating the experiences and insights of our West…
Do all the birds on Jaybird Street really want to hear all that tweet, tweet, tweet?
Some of us can still remember song lyrics from our teen years. We may forget what we were seeking when we opened the refrigerator door, the exact dates of our children’s birthdays, or why we went into the garage, but…
The surprising tale of two soldiers, a sunken ship and a Christmas Eve blessing
Last week in my Friday Roundup, a free summary of the week’s news that goes out by email, I told the story of my late friend Carl McKeever, whom I held up as an example of a true patriot. Much…
COVID vaccinations, firearms and martyrs: Another American epidemic
Semen est sanguis Christianorum. “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” Those words, attributed to the third century theologian Tertullian, appear in an Apologeticum written to defend against the many charges — cannibalism, incest, atheism, sedition,…
‘Pray Away’ and the harms of the conversion therapy movement
This week, “Pray Away” — a documentary detailing the history and harms of conversion therapy — released on Netflix. It chronicles the rise and fall of Exodus International, whose primary mission was to make people “struggling with” homosexuality straight. During…
‘They’re like children’: Confronting the myth of white paternal control
Some of the most pernicious and racist political myths circulating in our culture were used as a justification for chattel slavery and later as compelling arguments supporting Jim Crow segregation. I’ve recently been reading and reflecting on a myth I…
Should I be insulted for being called a Baptist?
I think I might have been insulted by a good friend recently, but I’m not sure. In a text message between Sharon and my friend Charlie, he described me as “the only Baptist I know.” If you knew Charlie, you…
Disarming the fear infecting our politics
I started attending a Southern Baptist church about nine months before I was born. In those preschool years, the message about God was simple and clear: God is love; God is good; God loves the whole world, and God loves…
Are you pro-life or pro-birth?
Do believers want babies just to be born — or to live after birth? The evidence for after birth support is very poor. Having heard several people firmly tell me that they are “pro-life,” I’ve usually first asked them then…
In praise of soul competency and actively open-minded thinking
What people believe about whether or not beliefs and opinions should change with evidence plays a significant role in the likelihood they will accept or reject conspiracy theories, paranormal and religious claims, traditional moral values, conservative economic ideas, and science,…