“They stole $77,000. And that was all of my savings.” Her voice was so soft I (Doug) had to lean in to hear her. “I’ve talked with the local police, the FBI and the Federal Trade Commission. The money is...
We first met her nearly two decades ago as a neatly wrapped character named Shannon Hendrickson in a bestselling “Boy Meets Girl” book written by her ex-husband about his theology of courtship after kissing dating goodbye. The character we were…
“The first part of the book was great, but then why did you have to go there?” I was talking to my brother-in-law’s book club, a group of Lutherans who call themselves the Churchies. (I don’t think they’ve registered that…
Amy Butler’s new book, Beautiful and Terrible Things, is an effort to expose her own struggles as a woman, a mother, a Christian and a high-profile pastor without shining too bright a light on the failings of others, she said….
I’m sure you’ve noticed the proliferation of profanity on television. The ubiquity of the f-word on dramas like Succession is stunning. The queen of all cuss words crops up so frequently that I started counting. I shouldn’t have bothered, somebody…
The first national gathering of Fresh Expressions United Methodist has moved its site from Florida to North Carolina after potential attendees raised concerns they would not feel safe in the “anti-woke” atmosphere of the Sunshine State. Michael Beck, director Fresh…
Thematic use of a minor 7th chord is one of the secrets to the enduring success of the 1970s-era youth musical Celebrate Life, according to a musician who helped facilitate a Carnegie Hall revival this summer. In musical terms, a…
The powerful Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom has defended more than half a dozen businesses in lawsuits protecting them from having to serve partners in same-sex weddings. But a recent exploration of ADF’s work suggests some of its cases…
On Sept. 10, 2017, I sat in Washington National Cathedral as Dean Randolph Hollerith announced that after almost two years of discussion, prayer and discernment, the Cathedral Chapter had decided to remove a set of stained-glass windows donated by the…
Lyndon B. Johnson’s “Great Society” has been more destructive to Black Americans than slavery or Jim Crow or segregation, according to the only Black Republican running for president. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., made the statement during the Sept. 27 GOP…
Many chapters in the story of the Civil Rights movement have been forgotten, modified or intentionally misrepresented. White Americans tend to imagine the movement as less controversial than it was, white resistance as less violent than it was, and the…
A growing number of LGBTQ elected officials are pushing back against discrimination while encouraging more members of their community to seek elected office, according to a new study by the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute and Loyola Marymount University. “A record number…
A team of scholars is launching a new research project aimed at learning about religiously unaffiliated Americans, including how they find meaning in life and when and why they stopped being religious. Funded by a three-year, $339,000 grant from the…
