Christians who fail to vote or who vote “wrongly” are “unfaithful” to God, Al Mohler told a group of conservative evangelicals Sept. 14. The president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and a leading spokesman for Southern Baptists…
What the color chart teaches us about surviving in a ‘purple’ church
What follows is a real-life, real-time text report coming to me last Sunday morning from a young adult I know who was in attendance at one of the largest Southern Baptist churches in America. Please keep in mind, this was…
Jesus would turn over tables in this Crisis Pregnancy Center
During my first stint in seminary, I visited a Crisis Pregnancy Center to write a paper for a class on health and spirituality. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. When I arrived, the director and I met for a…
My conflicted history on abortion
I candidly struggle with abortion. My thoughts ebb and flow with the chatter and stridency on both sides of the issue, ultimately rising from a low background murmur to an insistent, rasping hum reminiscent of standing beneath a long-distance, electric…
When conservatives today speak of ‘states’ rights,’ they likely don’t mean the popular vote; here’s a case in point
“States’ rights” is back in vogue among American conservatives — including conservative evangelicals — as the cure to enact their preferred restrictive social policies. But few of those advocates are likely to be pleased with the results of a new…
Giving birth in prison: The grief of separation, the grace of presence
Conversations are happening across the nation. Stories are being told and voices are crying out for compassionate and competent health care for women who need abortions. But do we really know much about these women? What will become of them?…
Supreme Court’s abortion ruling ignites the center and left as single-issue voters now
Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s June reversal of Roe v. Wade, Democrats are significantly more likely than Republicans to say they will support only those political candidates who share their stance on abortion, according to a recent poll by Public…
The equality of all people is indeed inalienable
The recent Supreme Court decision to reverse Roe v. Wade has reminded us that the state of women in our country is more disturbing than we might at first want to think. Not only have the rights of women to…
This is my body
The traumas and burdens inflicted by COVID-19 are borne in our bodies, brains, hearts and communities. Physician Bessle van der Kolk explores the connection between trauma, the brain and the body in his fascinating book The Body Keeps the Score….