This is the ninth in a BNG series of articles on Christianity and democracy that will lead toward the July 4 celebration of America’s 250th birthday. The series has been curated by Carol McEntyre, senior minister at First Baptist Church of...
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…
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…
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…
United Methodists have joined other Christians opposing President Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration and promising to continue their immigration ministries. Retired Bishop Julius C. Trimble, now top executive of the General Board of Church and Society, published another of…
The fear and rage that drove evangelical support for Donald Trump has not abated since his return to office, journalist and author Christine Emba observed during a webinar on Christianity and democracy hosted by the Brookings Institution. On the contrary,…
This article was updated Feb. 6 to include comments from the Keep God’s Land coalition. Christian leaders were noticeably silent Tuesday as President Donald Trump shocked the world by proposing the United States “take over” Gaza and expel all…
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…
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…
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…
The bill asking the U.S. House of Representatives to censure Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde for her sermon at Washington National Cathedral Jan. 21 has been referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. That powerful committee is chaired…
Some of the most conservative media outlets covering Christianity in America are skewering the Southern Baptist Convention North American Mission Board for its policy of communication by obfuscation. Protestia represents the far-far right of American evangelicalism. The latest headline at the…
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…
