When The Who’s Tommy catapulted onto the music scene in 1969, Americans were enraptured by the haunting music and story of a fictionalized young boy, Tommy Walker, who witnessed his father kill his mother’s lover, was sworn to secrecy by…
Reconsidering dissent amid the ‘conservative resurgence’
Dissent is in my bones. I grew up in a First Baptist Church in Northeastern Oklahoma, known for rowdy business meetings. It was common for news of those meetings to spread through the community before closing prayer. Keep in mind,…
When silence breeds fear
Every one of us has stood in a room where the truth needed saying and said nothing. We told ourselves it was not our place. We told ourselves someone else would speak. We studied our own shoes while another person…
In a world of bridge burners, we need more bridge builders
On July 27, the Gordie Howe International Bridge opened to the public, traversing the Detroit River from Detroit to Windsor in Ontario, Canada. Efforts to build the bridge began back in 2012 with the formation of the Windsor-Detroit Authority. The…
Atheism, nationalism and the conductor of the crazy train
About a year or so ago, actor Rainn Wilson posted on social media, “The metamorphosis of Jesus Christ from a humble servant of the abject poor to a symbol that stands for gun rights, prosperity theology, anti-science, limited government (that…
The peace of Charlie
For the past year, when I’ve been in town and not traveling for work, I’ve attended a historic downtown congregation not far from where I live. Over the course of that year, I’ve gotten to know members of the church…
The danger of negative religion
The federal government once employed a veterinarian as a food inspector. He inspected 75,000 chickens a week at a local poultry company. One day he made an interesting comment to a friend: “I never see a good chicken.” He went…
The ‘Southern Strategy’ lives on
When I was a child, my father taught me a little bit of truth can be used to camouflage a lot of falsifying. Today’s Republicans prove this every time they blame the Democratic Party for our racial divisions. Republicans like…
My experience at Baylor’s Truett Seminary
The first time I walked into Truett Seminary’s campus, I remember feeling at home. My mom and I flew across the country to visit a Baptist seminary that vocally and visibly supported women in ministry. I was a college senior…
God, save us from jackasses and fools
May Day fell on a Sunday, one year to the day after I graduated college. I already was a minister of music and youth at the local First Baptist Church. Back then, we thought it was a good idea. Folks…
How one manufactured story becomes a belief about millions
On June 23, the president of the United States stood in a Mack Trucks plant in Macungie, Pa., to give a speech about American manufacturing. Somewhere in the middle of this speech, he purposely manufactured a person. It went like…
Please stop calling me the young pastor
There is an expression I often see on Instagram. It’s attached to viral videos. A grandmother lighting a dessert soaked in highly flammable liquid. A man adding layer upon layer of tape to his face. Two women making soup with…