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...
The scene looked the same, just as it does every Sunday: We thanked God for the gifts of the table. Together, we sang “The Sanctus,” and then the celebrant spoke of Scripture — when, at the Passover meal, Jesus takes…
On Aug. 6, 1995, Michael McEachern and Katy Nesbit — two spirited, trusting young people — went to a Whataburger and never returned to the friends and family who loved them so much. They were murdered over the theft of…
One of President-elect Donald Trump’s most controversial cabinet nominees is a Southern Baptist. Matt Gaetz, who abruptly resigned his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives last week just days before a House Ethics Committee was to release its investigation…
In Oklahoma, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters is at it again. The man who has made controversial statements about Black history, who promotes a Christian nationalist agenda for curriculum and who demands teachers have Bibles in their classrooms…
With every announcement of a cabinet-level nomination that seems more shocking than the last, Americans who are not on the Trump train are struggling to understand how many of the president-elect’s actions will be agreeable to his base and whether…
Negative reactions to Donald Trump’s reelection to the presidency — the ones I have primarily heard or read — have been swift and serious. There have been many analyses of where Democrats went wrong in an election that offered such…
Beyond the campaigning that constantly exposed me to innumerable unsolicited ads in the mail and on television, what has bothered me most this election season is the bipartisan gullibility of Christians. We should, and many of us do, know better,…
I lay in bed, awakened from what otherwise would have been a restful night of sleep. The question that had plagued my conscience had now intruded upon my sleep: Why do so many conservative Christians so blindly follow Donald Trump?…
Less than an hour after Donald Trump was shot, one of my most liberal friends posted a meme making light of the situation. I phoned to confront the callousness. Things got heated. When I blurted, “Stop acting like a 2-year-old,”…
Dietrich Bonhoeffer railed against cheap grace that’s given “without asking questions or fixing limits.” Kaya Oakes targets “quick forgiveness,” a form of spiritual abuse practiced by powerful, charismatic and sexually predatory Christian leaders who pressure victims to quickly forgive, forget,…
In a recent Google search, I discovered more than 304 million results when I typed the term “missional.” I even came across several seminaries promoting master’s degrees in “missional leadership,” “missional theology,” “missional Christianity” and “missional multiplication” (whatever that means)….
I have spent much time processing the outcome of the presidential election. The results left me downcast and perplexed. Not because the outcome was opposite of the way I voted, but because of the swiftness and definitiveness with which the…
