Popular evangelical biblical scholar Jeremiah Johnston’s latest book, The Jesus Discoveries: 10 Historical Finds that Bring Us Face-to-Face with Jesus, has become an unexpected publishing phenomenon. It currently ranks among the top titles on both the New York Times bestseller…
Let’s change what we tolerate, accept and expect
My wife, Clary, and I were talking after church. During the worship service that morning, the church where I serve as senior pastor ordained a woman to gospel ministry — the second woman the church has ordained to ministry in…
A tale of two Leos
In a recent Atlantic article, David Brooks writes: “Many of us thought that the world would get more democratic as it modernized, but for the past quarter century, we have seen a reversion to authoritarian strongmen. Donald Trump, acting like…
Criminalizing truth
I have spent much of my life working at the intersection of faith and public life, often in rooms where people insist religion should stay out of politics. I understand why. Faith has been used to divide, to dominate, to…
What King Charles didn’t say about the Magna Carta
When King Charles III stood before the United States Capitol and praised the Magna Carta, he presented it as a sacred foundation of liberty — one of the great ancestors of the American Bill of Rights, constitutional democracy and the…
Trump’s ’60 Minutes’ interview shows why we need a free press
The recent 60 Minutes interview with President Donald Trump hosted by Norah O’Donnell was not great television, but it revealed a glaring and well-known flaw in our president. He attacks and denigrates everyone he deems critical of him. He always…
Confederate Memorial Day, 2026
Monday, April 27, was Confederate Memorial Day in Mississippi. Mississippi is not alone in observing this state holiday. Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and (Texas, kind of) also honor the Confederacy with a state holiday. Mississippi’s Ordinance of Secession…
‘Change for me, but not for thee’
Between 1999 and 2025, there was an average of six active shooter events in K-12 schools in the United States per year. As of April 27, there have been 151 mass shootings in the United States this year, killing 178…
The slippery slope of allowing insults to women
Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, recently hosted Clint Pressley, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, for an episode of his “In the Library” podcast. Unsurprisingly, the topic turned to female pastors in the SBC. Mohler said the…
A moral clarity on femicide
Four stories. One week. Femicide. In recent days, the news has carried story after story of women killed or missing at the hands of husbands, partners, former partners and other perpetrators of violence. These stories reveal a pattern that is…
Listening to a bell that no longer rings
Saturday night, what was meant to be an evening of tradition and lightheartedness at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was instead interrupted by violence, reportedly the act of a lone shooter. Such an event is, in every sense, traumatic and…
We are a nation of bullies
“Mommy, Jason is being mean to me, and I can’t get him to stop!” My 6-year-old daughter was calling from her hour-long school bus ride home (no, she doesn’t have a phone but uses a Fitbit watch for emergencies). In…