“The pro-life movement won the battle over Roe. But it is losing the war for the hearts and minds of Americans,” according to Warren Cole Smith, president of Ministry Watch and a thought leader among evangelicals. The pro-life movement “has formed…
A brief history of word choice and Bible abuse
From historian Randall Balmer I learned the medical/moral matter of abortion became a late-date toss-in to the cynical Southern strategy of GOP thinkers in the 1970s. It gave them a new wedge to use in dividing the Bible Belt: Elevate…
SBC ethics agency opposes EEOC guidance on what constitutes workplace harassment
The Southern Baptist Convention wants to allow workplace discrimination related to abortion, sexual orientation and gender identity views. The convention’s Ethics and Religious Commission has written the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to object to proposed new guidance on workplace harassment that…
Abortion abolitionist pastor running for state Senate in Oklahoma
An ultra-conservative Baptist pastor has won the Republican primary nomination to represent part of South Central Oklahoma in the state Senate, if he wins the Dec. 12 general election. The previous occupant of the District 32 Senate seat, John Montgomery,…
Kansas is latest state to fund anti-abortion groups that encourage women to give birth
Kansas is the latest state to award a government contract to an anti-abortion nonprofit group that encourages women who face unplanned pregnancies to give birth and provides them with resources to make motherhood work. “Alternatives to Abortion” legislation enacted in…
Christian groups applaud Tommy Tuberville’s blockade of military promotions
The secretaries of the Navy, Air Force and Army claim U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s halting of military promotions “is putting our national security at risk,” but the Alabama Republican told CNN he’s “not budging.” For six months, Tuberville has placed…
What Ron DeSantis and the TheoBros share in common
The headline in The Atlantic declared: “The Cost of Ron DeSantis’ Ideological Purity.” That got my attention, because “ideological purity” is big theme among religious conservatives these days — especially among that group we sometimes call the TheoBros. Those are…
Ohio voters reject conservative Christians’ effort to limit constitutional changes
On Aug. 8, voters in ruby-red Ohio rejected a measure supported by politically conservative Christian groups that would have made it more difficult for citizens to change the state’s Constitution. Ballot Issue 1 lost by 56.5% to 43.5% in a…
Apparently, the cruelty is still the point
Amanda Zurawski was 17 weeks pregnant when she learned she was miscarrying and at a high risk for infection. But the fetus still had a heartbeat, and her life wasn’t deemed to be in danger, so she was sent home…
Appealing to religious freedom is the way to counter Christian supremacism in America today
Christian supremacism has gotten completely out of hand in the United States. We’ve seen it in the insurrection warfare of the New Apostolic Reformation, the battle against librarians by the likes of Kirk Cameron, the desire to punish homosexuality by Al Mohler, Dan…
How many Americans actually support a ban on abortion?
Last Friday, the leading Republican candidates for president (sans Trump) showed up in Des Moines, Iowa, to campaign among approximately 2,000 overwhelmingly white evangelicals. The forum was sponsored by an evangelical organization called the Family Leader, an organization with a mission…
One year after Roe was overturned, states have a ‘hodgepodge of laws’
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24, 2022, ending half a century of broad abortion access. Since then, the battles have moved to the states, creating a multi-hued map one state official called a “hodgepodge of…