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....
In the 1980s and ’90s, while I was teaching English, I also was a debate coach. High school debate is a lot of fun, primarily because the drama of teenagers is just as present there as it is on the…
With about a month to the deadline issued by the Kenyan government to close the Kakuma and Dabaab refugee camps in the East African country, government agencies have gone silent on how they will make the closures happen. The two…
Dear church, Today I write to you from three places in my soul: parent, prophet and pastor. Like many Texas parents, I had a momentary flash of panic last Tuesday. I opened my news app on the way to pick…
Saddleback Church has operated differently than a typical Southern Baptist church from the beginning, and that tradition continues in the selection of a successor to founding pastor Rick Warren. The Southern California megachurch — the largest congregation affiliated with the…
The Southern Baptist Convention’s Sexual Abuse Task Force has issued a series of responses to the recent Guidepost Solutions investigation that range from suggestions to two action items to be considered by messengers to the SBC annual meeting this summer….
The most we manage to produce in the wake of another school shooting is a spate of arguments back and forth. Never any action. The satirical website The Onion is infamous for this headline, posted after almost every mass shooting:…
I love Christmas and usually start playing Christmas music during the end of summer. One of my favorite parts of the Christmas story is that of the three wise men. I love that these men were courageous enough to follow…
The war in Ukraine has driven the number of forcibly displaced persons worldwide to a record-setting 100 million, according to the United Nations. The 90 million figure reached at the close of 2021 was quickly surpassed after Russia’s Feb. 24…
The findings of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Sexual Abuse Task Force report are earth-shattering, even if not surprising to those familiar with the SBC and its doctrines. In response, Russell Moore called this moment “the Southern Baptist Apocalypse.” Moore knows…
While Baylor University has been in the news for its on-campus treatment of LGBTQ students, there’s another side to the story happening off campus that involves the controversial practice of conversion therapy. Sexual orientation change efforts, or conversion therapy, are…
The bombshell investigative report of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee by Guidepost Solutions comes as no surprise, given each of the items mentioned is hardly new. What is new is that these items have been “objectively” considered by a…
Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated bi-weekly. STAFF CHANGES Joshua Breslaw, to First Baptist Church, Gonzales, Texas, as pastor. He comes from the pastorate of College Heights…
