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...
Everywhere I go, I meet people of all ages and backgrounds who wonder whether their votes count, whether they can really make a difference. Many of them, sadly but understandably, believe our government no longer works for them. I get…
Miguel De La Torre is no stranger to hate mail as the author of dozens of books, articles and blog posts challenging the theological foundations and racial assumptions of white political and religious power. “It’s ranged from being called the…
In our world of ecological precarity, I’ve been exploring what it would mean to move beyond doing environmental justice, to living in a different relationship with beings beyond the human. I think about this relationship both with those beings we…
For the second time in two months, the United States Supreme Court on Friday, April 9, issued a late-night, end-of-the-week ruling on a California church’s challenge to public health restrictions due to COVID-19. But there’s something different about the latest…
A couple of decades ago, when I was working as a church consultant, I had an interesting conversation with a young pastor. He was probably 20 or so years younger than me, and it was obvious from our conversation that…
Just a month after making headlines by announcing her departure from the Southern Baptist Convention, popular author and Bible teacher Beth Moore launched a second salvo against the male-dominated leadership of the SBC. In a tweet April 7, she apologized…
That call weekend in September 2020 was one Matt Marston said he will never forget — and not only because it resulted in him becoming the senior minister of First Baptist Church in Athens, Ga. “Because of all the precautions…
It wasn’t too long ago that Eddie Gibson was visiting the Dellanna West O’Brien School in Liberia, ducking in and out of classrooms, talking and laughing with the teachers and students. He remembers working hard to get some ceiling tiles…
I knew Mike Huckabee before. Before he was governor of Arkansas. Before he was a presidential candidate. Before he was a Fox News personality. Before he was a multimillionaire. Before he was pitching racial slurs. Back then he was a…
Imagine if America’s coalition of conspiracy theorist, cowboy Christianity had colonized its way into the world of international politics and sexual abuse cover-ups under the guise of spreading the gospel. Research scholar Mary Li Ma believes this isn’t an imaginary scenario,…
Why should we open our border to poor people from Central America? What if they are really terrorists? What if they have COVID, or something even more contagious? How can we afford to take care of “their” children when we…
This week, I found someone who has it rougher than pastors in handling dissent generated from right-wing conspiracy theories and fear of the LGBTQ community: Public school administrators. I had no idea how bad this is, and yet I should…
