It may now seem surprising to many United Methodists, and even more Baptists, that for most of our histories in the United States, all Methodists and Baptists were regularly designated as evangelical denominations. The most important reason is that both...
My wife, Lauren, told me a story once. When she was 16, her mother put her on a plane to Europe. She gave her a peck on the cheek, a few words of encouragement and a credit card. “Have fun,”…
Hosting drag shows in a church. Board members posting incendiary statements about political violence. Dismissing or scolding dissenting LGBTQ voices. Sometimes it’s “inclusive” churches that can do lasting damage to the cause of LGBTQ inclusion. I was reminded of this…
I’ve written elsewhere about the role the arts have played in both creating and confronting shared identity and ethics across time. Art is a powerful medium. It has the potential to both reflect and to shape collective memory — which…
As an avid reader, a personal standard for a good book is a storyline that captures the imagination with an invitation to enter into the world-building and characters’ lives. The book should bring questions like, “Where might I fit into…
When I reflect on the people who have hurt me the most in my life, I realize the Christian commandment of forgiveness seems beyond my strength. Sometimes I can do it, and then some days I feel a fury I cannot…
Acknowledging a history marked by power in high places that included 54 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence and 11 presidents including George Washington, the top officer of the Episcopal Church in the United States declared the…
The Family Policy Alliance is celebrating recent Supreme Court victories for state laws it promoted that halt transgender medical treatments for minors and restrict online porn to viewers who can prove they’re 18 years old. The court also has agreed…
Nearly 20 groups affiliated with Christians Against Christian Nationalism have been formed in more than a dozen states to advocate for religious freedom and to resist the religious hatred and violence sweeping the nation. And more churches or clusters of…
It’s been an intense year so far for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s Advocacy ministry, Director Jennifer Hawks said. “What a year it’s been for all of us,” she said during a breakfast at the CBF’s June General Assembly in St….
Monday, I shared the news with my classmates at SMU’s Perkins School of Theology, where I am pursuing a master of divinity degree, that Baylor University had received a grant from the Baugh Foundation to “foster LGBTQ inclusion in churches,”…
The president of Baylor University appears to have burned a final bridge with a Texas-based foundation that once was a critical funder of its Baptist identity. President Linda Livingstone has rescinded a $643,000 grant awarded to the Diana Garland School…
Driving through the fog gave the air a thickness that seemed to envelop us, to welcome us into a place that fizzled with eternity. A group of friends and I had traveled into the Cades Cove area of the Great…
