Rick and Kay Warren gave an excellent interview to Krista Tippett, on the On Being radio show almost 20 years ago, on Dec. 6, 2007. In it, Pastor Rick says this: The reason there are hungry people in the world,…
Does God obsess about gender?
A few hours ago, I received a text from a friend who is concerned about their transgender child. It’s been easy to miss the exacting details of the barrage of executive orders flying across our new president’s desk these last…
Pastors, now what?
If you are like me, the pastor of a small church in a small town, you might be thinking to yourself, “Now what?” I mean, we have a big year ahead. If your church still does vacation Bible school, it’s…
This is not Christianity
“How can people who claim to be Christians do these things?” That’s among a set of recurring questions people the world over keep asking about the Trump administration and its MAGA mafia in America. While too many have danced around…
Please, no more hollow words on sexual abuse reform
Dear Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee: Please stop with all the talk-talk-talk about abuse reform. All the promises. All the posturing. All the platitudes. Just stop. Until you have at least 1,000 names of clergy sex abusers in a database…
Vouchers damage religion
I am opposed to school vouchers for a number of reasons. First, I am opposed for financial reasons. The Texas Legislative Board reports that the cost of vouchers as currently being considered in the Texas Legislature will increase from $1…
ICE raids in churches violate conservative principles
The recent lawsuit filed by Quaker groups against the federal government highlights an issue on which conservatives seem increasingly prone to waffle: the sanctity of religious freedom and the protection of churches from government overreach. Conservatives often advocate for robust…
Five ways the Texas school voucher bill is cruel
Here’s some basic arithmetic for you: The proposed school voucher bill approved tonight in the Texas Senate is cruel in at least five fundamental ways. First, it stacks the deck against public education, the bedrock of our democratic society. This…
A benediction gone bad
As sociologist Orrin Klapp observed in his 1962 book Heroes, Villains, and Fools: The Changing American Character, “The celebrity cult celebrates the triumph of ordinariness — charm without character, showmanship without ability, bodies without minds, information without wisdom.” The critique…
Racism is a series of lies
What precisely is so bad about racism? Part of me hopes I ask this question to a sympathetic audience who knows something is wrong with how we view race. But perhaps you can’t quite put your finger on what is…
Truth on the scaffold: Bonhoeffer’s witness to American Christians today
Anyone watching the beginning of Donald Trump’s presidency can see that truth itself is on the scaffold. Bonhoeffer’s life and thought gives us a lens to see our present dilemma as a nation and church. Dietrich Bonhoeffer is among the…
Donald Trump’s January 6 insurrection is now a coup
On Feb. 2, private actors reportedly employed by Elon Musk took over U.S. Treasury computer systems that control the nation’s payments for government benefits. That action followed a Trump-ordered takeover of the USAID independent federal agency responsible for distributing foreign…