For most of my life, American Christians were cheerleaders for democracy. That’s when we were in charge of the democracy. Today, oddly, many conservative Christians no longer believe in or support democracy. They seem to favor a kind of theocracy…
Are our churches prepared for Christian autocracy?
A 1638 treatise titled A Discourse about Civil Government in a new Plantation whose design is Religion, written in response to the founding of New Haven, Conn., contained this definition of a properly Christianized government: Theocracy, or to make the…
‘I came to watch a great convention die’
I attended my first Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in June 1987. Participation was part of my first class at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Bill Leonard’s J-Term study of the SBC. I was standing with Leonard, then and still our…
Doom-scrolling, sourdough starter and three kinds of kin
During a late-night doom-scrolling session on my phone, those all-knowing algorithms of social media converged and hacked up a hairball-like collection of my recent online search results. Cosmic Creepers, our jumpy black cat, a master of regurgitating all things grossly…
Defender of the Faith or Defender of Faith — a distinction informed by Baptist history
With the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Sept. 8, her heir, Charles, became King Charles III. Accompanied by grief and grateful tributes from around the world, Elizabeth II’s death marks the end of a lengthy era of British history…
Teach Baptist history and Bible history to debunk Christian nationalism, historians say
Failure to teach Baptist history in Baptist churches has made congregants susceptible to Christian nationalism, according to Baptist historians from two generations. In Baptist churches today, the history of the movement is rarely mentioned or taught any more, and this…
What is a Baptist?
You must have a sense of humor to talk about being Baptist these days, with all the craziness associated with the word and with many Baptists today who are a contradiction to what “Baptist” has meant through the centuries. If…
Baylor, Baptists and slavery: A way forward
Last week Baylor University, the world’s largest historically Baptist university, released a study revealing the slaveholding and Confederacy elements of its history. The report, commissioned by the Baylor board of regents, considered the stories of Baylor’s founders and those memorialized…