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...
Monday catches a lot of grief! Just the other day, at the YMCA where I work, a member came in carrying his workout bag and his clothes for work. As he scanned in, with a bit of dread, he made…
Paige Patterson may be held liable for defamatory actions taken by others on his behalf, the Texas Supreme Court ruled Feb. 14. That’s bad news for Patterson, former president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and his former chief of staff,…
Exactly five years after voting to close its Logsdon Seminary, trustees of Hardin-Simmons University voted Feb. 6 to make the Logsdon School of Theology its own college within the university. The Abilene, Texas, university made national headlines Feb. 7, 2020,…
U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said he is struggling to fully comprehend the Trump administration’s overwhelming assault on basic freedoms as well as its ongoing attempt to dismantle federal programs and agencies. Calling the situation a “crisis” would be an…
In the midst of the past three weeks, I’ve had a hard time finding reason for celebration and optimism. The Grammys changed that. Fall semester 2023, I taught a study abroad program in London. Upon learning about my iPhone’s music…
DEI, originally coined as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, has a new meaning for Black Americans in the second age of Trump called the Declaration of Economic Independence. In 2020, after the murder of George Floyd, corporate America temporarily pledged billions…
More than 300 white Christian leaders in South Africa have signed a statement rejecting U.S. President Donald Trump’s claims that white people are being victimized there. On Friday, Feb. 7, Trump signed an executive order “to address serious human rights…
Before taking office, Donald Trump promised a crackdown on diversity initiatives. In the weeks following the inauguration, some might say he’s overdelivered on his promise, shutting down federal DEI offices and putting all federal employees that work in such programs…
Diversity, equity and inclusion. DEI. I want to begin this post by reclaiming these words as good, whole and holy. You and I embody diversity, equity and inclusion. As Stacey Abrams recently said in her podcast, DEI is not something…
Right now, I’m feeling like I’m in exile — sent there by the last election, sent there by the president’s actions these last seven weeks, driven there by the cruel antics of his sidekick, Elon Musk. Most readers of this…
The arts — in whatever form they take — play an important role in all societies. In fact, archeologists often look to the artistic and cultural remnants of a society to understand what it valued and believed. In addition to…
On the eve of Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, the “anti-vaccine, pro-Trump, guitar-strumming preacher” Sean Feucht staged a so-called Jesus March in the French Quarter of New Orleans. In addition to Feucht’s rise to fame for defying safety orders…
