Fair warning up front: I’m going to mess with one of your favorite hymns today. Be prepared. But first, a story. As I was writing this lesson, I got a message from a friend whose beloved cat died Thursday. We…
Reclaiming Christianity from the evangelical hypocrites
I lost the message of Christ to these evangelicals. I really wanted so desperately to reclaim the Christian faith from the hypocrites who have taken control of the message of Jesus for the last 50 years, but I can see…
Is it time to retire the term ‘Christian nationalism’?
As if exasperated by a quarrel during Thanksgiving dinner, columnist Michael Sean Winters pleads with whoever will listen: “Can everyone please stop talking about ‘Christian nationalism?’” Writing in the Nov. 21 issue of the National Catholic Reporter, he claims with…
In conversation with Jeffrey Rosen
Jeffrey Rosen is president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, professor of law at George Washington University, and the New York Times bestselling author of The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the…
The God I don’t believe in
Years ago while serving as a parish pastor, I visited an inactive member of my new congregation. Although he used to attend regularly, he quit coming after his wife died. By the time I arrived at the church, he had…
Affirmed yet not ordained?
As Meredith Stone of Baptist Women in Ministry announced the results of the State of Women in Ministry 2025 report, she said this: “BWIM has counted 2,856 Baptist women ordained to the gospel ministry.” My immediate reaction was, there has…
Transferring from Anxiety University to Gratitude College
From the front desk of the YMCA where I work during the early morning hours, I notice a lot of interesting T-shirt designs. On Monday of Thanksgiving week, a woman approaching the check-in scanner was wearing one that read, “Anxiety…
Learning from Trump’s unnatural impatience
Maybe Donald Trump is just a rich guy who is impatient and wants to get richer. He figured out that to get really rich, Musk-rich, you need to have political power, the more the better. Specifically, he must have reasoned,…
In conversation with Anna Rollins
Anna Rollins is the author of the painful and powerful new memoir Famished: On Food, Sex, and Growing Up as a Good Girl. The book illuminates the unholy alliance between diet culture and evangelical purity culture, both of which teach…
Is this really the second-most-important book of the year?
I am puzzled that Christianity Today selected The Body God Gives: A Biblical Response to Transgender Theory, by Robert S. Smith, as the second most important book of 2025. Surely we have more serious concerns than another evangelical attack on…
A practical guide for nurturing youth mental health
Stories of poor mental health among children and teenagers are sadly prevalent today, including young people going through depression, anxiety and even death by suicide. Mental health challenges occur on a continuum, so it is important to be aware of developing…
‘Why didn’t God do anything to prevent this?’
Several years ago, a group of Christians decided to throw their collective weight behind a candidate for national office. They were concerned about the moral decay and chaos that threatened their nation in the wake of an inconclusive war. They…