Juneteenth and Independence Day offer models of the kind of religious freedom America should embrace, according to Interfaith Alliance President Paul Raushenbush. “On July Fourth in 1776, the Founders declared independence from a king who was given absolute power because…
Must our quests for liberty be mutually exclusive?
There’s a strange tension in the minds of many people between the desires for independence and community. It comes up often in conversations about churches and denominations. A church may want to be independent yet participate in the community of…
Du Mez, Bass and Tisby warn: Project 2025 is a Christian nationalist blueprint
Project 2025 is a Christian nationalist blueprint for taking control of every level and facet of American government, and scarier still is that most people know nothing about it, scholar and author Kristen Kobes Du Mez said during the “The…
David Barton is still wrong: American exceptionalism endangers America
How many times will evangelical Christians attempt to put the David Barton-inspired revisionist American history into public school curriculums? Every time a state official wakes up one morning and reads the Bible or the Constitution wrong, expect another outburst of…
Purity culture is alive and well in the Christian nationalist agenda for public schools
Last week, I attended a school board meeting for the Southlake-Carroll Independent School District in North Texas which has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education over its changes to Title IX. This is the school district in…
Jesus and the Ten Commandments
As a person who tries, however poorly, to live as a Jesus follower, I find myself fearing people who have only a casual acquaintance with Christianity might assume all Christians are applauding the recent Louisiana legislation that mandates posting the…
Christian nationalism: A Baptist evaluation and response
Christian nationalism: Does such a thing exist? If it does, what is it and how did it emerge? Is it a threat? How should we respond to it? To answer these questions, I do not offer a political treatise representing…
That Ten Commandments law isn’t the worst thing about Louisiana’s ‘Dream Big’ act for public education
Much attention has been given to Louisiana’s House Bill 71 recently signed into law, which requires every public school — including state universities — to prominently display the Ten Commandments in all classrooms. But HB 71 wasn’t the only bill…
This Fourth of July, let us reclaim patriotism
Not since the Civil War has the United States faced such ill winds as we experience this Independence Day. The very idea of American democracy is under assault from internal forces convinced they are the lone defenders of democracy. The…