Last week, Donald Trump began to openly challenge and mock the pope and then posted an image of himself as Jesus Christ. Many conservative Catholics and even evangelicals who have wholeheartedly defended and supported Trump were taken aback, but not…
Will Charlie Kirk’s legacy really live on?
Jerry Falwell Sr. was a fundamentalist pastor who became engaged in politics. Charlie Kirk was a political activist who wrapped his speech in evangelical garb. There is a big difference between the two. Falwell, the legendary pastor of Thomas Road…
Progressive group apologizes for using Billy Graham footage against Trump
A progressive political group that used footage from the late Billy Graham’s sermons to critique his son Franklin’s embrace of candidate Donald Trump and promote the Christian faith of candidate Kamala Harris has apologized and pledged not to do so…
Evangelicals and the ‘born again’ myth
For the first time in my life, I got down on my knees without being told to do so. I really wanted to talk to God. ‘Lord, I don’t know what happened to me tonight,’ I prayed. ‘You know. And I thank…
Where’s Franklin Graham?
After a starring role in the sequel to Donald Trump’s return to power, Franklin Graham is mainly missing from the cameras. Or so it seems. The latest we’ve heard from Graham, he was named to serve on the president’s Religious…
SBC can’t admit its problem with sexual abuse, Boz Tchividjian says
The only solution for the Southern Baptist Convention to solve its sexual abuse problem is to dismantle the denomination entirely, according to Boz Tchividjian, one of the nation’s best-known attorneys representing abuse survivors. “They tried to put some Band-Aids on…
Will Franklin Graham sue Evangelicals for Harris over ad?
Donald Trump advocate Franklin Graham is not happy with Evangelicals for Harris using clips of his father’s sermon to make a case that Trump is not fit for office. The younger Graham, who now leads the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association…
The Medieval Crusades, Billy Graham and American evangelicals
My earliest encounter with the term “religious crusade” probably goes back to junior high history. Still, I don’t remember the term being used much other than when Billy Graham came to town. He went from city to city, holding “crusades.”…
Epiphany, GOP dysfunction and supplementing what Heather Cox Richardson didn’t mention
I seldom distribute my comments about the daily newsletter from historian Heather Cox Richardson to a group. Instead, I restrict my comments to a few individuals. But her newsletter on Jan. 4 prompts me to share these thoughts to a…
Heaven and hell: Trick or treat?
Mallory Challis’ recent analysis — “Most Americans believe in heaven or hell, but their ideas aren’t always biblical”— of what people believe about the afterlife begs a question: Which works better to incentivize behavior, heaven or hell? It’s a variation…
Ready for some Friday night football and prayer?
Autumn offers a string of Friday Night Lights at high school football. And this autumn marks the first time coaches can feel free to “take a knee” on the 50-yard line to pray at the end of a game. The…
Womanhood, white Christian nationalism and Queen Elizabeth
On Thursday evening, church bells began to chime in Oxford, where I am living for much of this fall while on research leave from Baylor University. I’d planned a long writing day, but I simply sat, my front door open,…