Note: This post is an excerpt from a chapter titled “Juneteenth” in the author’s forthcoming book, Backslide: Reclaiming a Faith and a Nation After the Christian Turn Against Democracy, which will be published September 8 and is now available for pre-order....
One day after federal immigration agents arrested a man at a church in Georgia, a coalition of Quaker meetings filed suit in federal court to block the Department of Homeland Security raids at houses of worship. The new policy of…
A three-judge panel last week heard oral arguments about a Louisiana law requiring Ten Commandments displays in K-12 and public college and university classrooms. The Jan. 23 hearing in the Fifth U.S. Cricut Court of Appeals in New Orleans came…
All those worries about book bans in public school libraries was just a “hoax,” according to the Trump administration. The acting assistant secretary for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Education made that declaration in a Jan. 24 news…
From the Smurfs to Superman, 2025 will be the year of the reboot in movie theaters across America. It’s common, during times of economic crisis and social upheaval, for Hollywood to trot out familiar favorites, playing on nostalgia for a…
Conservative Christian activists hope President Donald Trump’s pledge to close the Federal Department of Education and “move everything back to the states” will help them expand “school choice” programs that use taxpayer dollars for vouchers students can use to attend…
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a statement Jan. 21 that attempts to build the framework for federal immigration enforcement agencies to have the right to enter schools and churches to make arrests. This statement overturns previous ICE precedent…
As President Donald Trump categorically bans people from seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border and cancels flights for incoming refugees, it’s worth recalling this isn’t the first time the federal government has failed the world’s most vulnerable — nor would it be the first time…
Vice President JD Vance and the Catholic Church — of which he is a member — are at odds over U.S. immigration policy. With less than a week in office, President Donald Trump has begun swiftly implementing anti-immigrant and anti-refugee…
As a historian, educator and scholar of the Tuskegee Airmen, I cannot stay silent about the removal of pivotal lessons on American history from U.S. military classrooms. The Trump-era Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policy that led to this decision is…
When politicians act like preachers, we get members of the House of Representatives falling over themselves to sponsor House Resolution 59 condemning Bishop Mariann Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, D.C. Imagine the House of Representatives taking time away from…
Amid a flurry of executive orders from the White House immediately after Donald Trump’s inauguration Jan. 20, immigrant and refugee advocates were on the lookout for signs of the campaign promises they fear most. Some of those things came true…
Robert G. Callahan II is a writer, attorney, theologian and law professor at Baylor University. In 2020, Callahan was named Lawyer of the Year by the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers’ Association. His recent book Fire in the Whole: Embracing Our…
