Baptist scholar William R. Estep wrote in 1963: “If the Anabaptists teach us anything, it is that those who fear freedom and court the governments of this world in the interest of a more moral or ‘Christian’ state are placing…
Now Josh Howerton is giving advice on loving Trump’s immigration plans
Fresh off his controversial advice for brides to give their husbands whatever they want sexually on their wedding nights, Texas megachurch pastor Josh Howerton is dishing out advice about how President Donald Trump’s immigration policies are biblical after all. While…
Speaking truth in memory of the Charleston Nine
Ten years ago this month, Pastor Clementa Pinckney and eight church members of Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., were murdered in a racist act by someone who believed lies about American history and its diverse people….
Five possible paths for 21st-century churches
It’s no secret that organized religion is in trouble. Over the past few decades, the American church has seen a freefall in membership, attendance and reputation. Current data suggest the steep decline has stabilized for now. But the long-term trajectory…
Juneteenth 160 years later
This year, Juneteenth turns 160. While it only became a federal holiday in 2021 — joining the calendar as America’s 11th official holiday — it commemorates one of the country’s oldest and most painful journeys: the ongoing fight for true,…
Why I’m taking a break from Christian media
The Newsboys’ Going Public was one of the first CDs I bought as a teenager. Then I discovered DCTalk and the Christian music scene of the 1990s. I was all in — subscribed to the magazine and read all the…
A word about June 14 to Christians beyond the USA
Last week the editor of Riforma, an Italian-language newspaper published by and for Baptists, Methodists and Waldensians in Italy, asked if I’d be willing to write a front-page article for this week’s edition sharing my perspective on events in the…
What Oscar Romero has to say about this moment of national unrest
When I was a graduate student in history, I wrote my thesis on the life of the El Salvadorian archbishop Oscar Romero. I contended he was a unique figure in that he held closely to many of the ideas of…
What’s in a mask?
The first few years I lived outside Alabama, I received the same question by those learning where I grew up: Did you see members of the Ku Klux Klan walking down the street in Alabama? This question was sometimes asked…
People I met at the No Kings rally in Nashville
Since more than 80% of evangelical Christians voted for Donald Trump in 2024, when seeking folks to interview at the June 14 No Kings protest in Nashville, Tenn., I sought those bearing religious-oriented posters to explore their perspectives. With several…
God’s hand, sex and 2020 vision
Let’s analyze a political celebrity’s claim about God. For comparison: In summer 1986, while I was on a Christian college mission trip to the Philippines, my parents and my younger sisters were taking a very out-of-the-way route to Myrtle Beach,…
What a database can’t do
It is a dark irony that people who claim to stand for truth can so effectively bury the truth about abuse. Although it never should have been her story, Jennifer Lyell was one of many who bravely reported abuse at…