In the wake of the violence of January 6, 2021, some observers wondered why the insurrectionists at the U.S. Capitol weren’t charged with domestic terrorism. The reason is simple: There is no standalone federal crime on the books for domestic...
A funny thing happened while we were socially distanced, worshiping online. When we returned to the church building, the front door was not where we left it, nor was it the same size. Instead, we found multiple doors resembling the…
It happens almost every week. Over the last year, with recurring and uncanny regularity, a pastor or Christian leader reaches out to me to share their journey of leaving abusive churches or organizations. In each case, they know I’m no…
Demographers have been predicting for three decades that the United States was headed toward a non-majority status for any single racial group in the population. Results of the 2020 Census released last week confirm that ongoing trend, but the real…
Half my seminary education was on Zoom. I completed the final year and a half of a three-year master of divinity degree from the desk in my bedroom. Like everyone else, the pandemic moved my life online. It’s a strange…
A year ago this summer, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship not only had to hurriedly move its annual General Assembly to a virtual space due to threat of COVID-19, but faced difficult decisions about cutting its annual budget down to a…
The U.S. Department of Education announced Aug. 19 that it anticipates rescinding parts of a rule enacted by the Trump administration that forces universities to financially support religious student groups that discriminate. This November 2020 reinterpretation of the Free Inquiry Rule…
When a group of Baptist scholars came together virtually Aug. 9-11 for a roundtable on “Baptists and the Kingdom of God,” they did not know that several in the group had personal experience to speak to one of the presentation…
Ongoing efforts by white Christian nationalists to destabilize American democracy must be met with the courage and grassroots activism made famous by the 1960s Civil Rights movement, panelists said during the second of two Aug. 18 webinars on the movement….
My gal loves corn puddin’ She eats it constantly Sometimes I get to wondering Does she love it more than me? My guy loves corn puddin’ I got the recipe So if he wants my puddin’ He’ll have to marry…
My son is 6 years old and in the first grade. He loves Lego, Harry Potter, outer space and finishing books as soon as he gets them. Inexplicably, my son maintains this stubborn inquisitiveness about the world around him even…
Across the American South, it’s hard to sit in a coffee shop anywhere and not overhear a Bible study or a conversation about Christian faith. America’s obsession with coffee — whether from Starbucks or the hippest new local spot —…
I’ve been trying to write a country song that people in Afghanistan can sing in the days to come. It also applies to lots of other folks America has pledged eternal love for, only to disappear when the thrill is…
