The latest theater of conservative evangelicalism’s multiple-front spiritual warfare cosplay is being dubbed the “War on Technology” by Cypress Baptist Church of Benton, La. It began as a gathering in October 2022 that promised to “help families win the technology…
‘Nobody wants to be an addict’
During a recent Spirituality in Recovery group at Costello House, a recovery living ministry for men, I asked residents if they would be willing to answer a few questions about their experiences with addiction and recovery. September is National Recovery…
Medication for opioid use disorder must fight stigma on top of addiction, but churches could help
Imagine the entire population of a city the size of Peoria, Ill., suddenly vanished. What if half the residents of Richmond, Va.; Huntsville, Ala.; or Tacoma, Wash., turned to the person next to them and that person was gone? As…
The other epidemic: Fear
The more I read the news, the more I become convinced there’s another epidemic currently facing the nation. It seems to be particularly acute in churches right now, too. And while it’s an epidemic largely of our own making, it…
One year of sobriety
One year ago last Monday, I stopped drinking. For the past year, we’ve draw an “X” each day on a special, prominently displayed calendar. I preferred for Nancy, my wife, to draw the mark. Every time she did, she would…
Do you play church in a pretend world or serve people in the real world?
There is the world the church acts like we all live in, and then there’s the world real people live in. These are not the same places. It has taken more than a year of deconstructing my own experiences as…
Is sports gambling any more immoral or risky than the stock market?
I love a good side hustle. I have a job I enjoy, but one of my favorite things about it is that I often have the flexibility to explore other opportunities in my free time, such as writing for Baptist…
The link between the Atlanta shootings and purity culture
The shootings that happened in Atlanta on March 16 were a needless tragedy — the loss of innocent lives at the hands of yet another gunman, where women of color once again were the victims. While lack of gun control…
Don’t let the Atlanta shooter off the hook by claiming women drove him to addiction
On the evening of March 16, Robert Long allegedly shot and killed eight people, seven of whom were women, at three separate massage parlors in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Initial reports say he is a Christian and the son of…