The nature of bullies is to strike fear in the hearts of their targets in order to demand compliance with their own self-aggrandizement. Donald Trump is a classic bully, and he just made ABC News bow down to him on…
Oklahoma senator says of LGBTQ kids, ‘We don’t want that filth in our state’
“We don’t want that filth in our state,” an Oklahoma state senator said of LGBTQ students, who are being targeted by at least 50 Republican-supported bills in the legislature with full endorsement from the secretary of education. Sen. Tom Woods,…
More Baptist leaders cite pattern of bullying from Ezell and NAMB
Bobby Gilstrap seemed to model what Southern Baptists would want in a denominational leader. Educated at two Southern Baptist Convention seminaries, he served as a pastor, then served 10 years as an associational director of missions in Michigan, where he…
Global ‘thoughts and prayers’ will not stop a sociopathic bully
What should your neighbors do if a bully breaks into your home in broad daylight, begins killing members of your family, and publicly announces that the killing will continue until you surrender or abandon your home? Should the neighbors send…
Faith leaders call for an end to racial bullying in the Indiana legislature
Tension is at an all-time high in the Indiana General Assembly and the entire United States. The Ministerium, an Indiana statewide ministers’ organization, and other faith leaders across the United States are concerned. Attempted physical abuse and public bullying tactics…
Loving my neighbor by being an ‘active bystander’
I grew up as a missionary kid in a country where political and racial differences led to bloodshed and genocide. This was not actively directed toward American missionaries. They were bystanders. Often they had no opportunity to intervene because the…
How Dave Ramsey responded to a story about being a bully by bullying the reporter who wrote it
Veteran religion reporter Bob Smietana of Religion News Service set out to get comments on allegations of employee dissatisfaction at Christian financial guru Dave Ramsey’s company. What he got in return was a sarcastic email from the company, copied to…
Life lessons from speaking with a foreign accent
What we know today to be the traditional “Asian accent” tells the story of Asian American assimilation in essence. The generation of Asian immigrants before us possessed the accent that white Americans saw as the most foreign in comparison to…
Brave peacemaking, not bullying, must be our goal
As observances of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday and MLK Day approach, King’s prophetic warnings about war ring relevant and true to our current political environment.