“Grok, turn her around and pull her pants down and put a thong on her.” On Christmas Day, Elon Musk gifted the cesspool he calls X with the ability to let any user modify an image on the social media…
Letters to Mary: Women cannot be controlled
“Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.” — Toni Morrison Dear Mary, Mother, I grow weary this Advent season; this is a weary world longing to rejoice as the carol sings. I miss the…
Sex, porn, bikinis, health care, hunger and Great Gatsby depravity
Those of us who grew up in white evangelical schools and churches are used to being coerced into submission under the threat of exile. In what we experienced as a theocracy, these institutions held total control over our lives, including…
CONTROL Inc.
It’s all about control, not about balancing the federal budget, not about bringing down inflation, not about “waste, fraud and abuse.” President Donald Trump is all about control. Let me count the ways: The Kennedy Center. The president purged the…
Conservatives’ agenda for America is starting to read like my Bob Jones University student handbook
Perusing the news is beginning to feel like reading my Bob Jones University handbook a quarter century ago. Every page unveils another clutching of control that mortifies and confounds until the reader doesn’t know whether to laugh, cry or rage….
On the SBC, Alliance and CBF and lost causes
The histories we tell ourselves about our churches and denominations are important. They shape organizational identities and give greater meaning to the work churches and denominations conduct in the wider world. When those histories become deeply engrained, they can morph…
The fantastical world of the New (evangelical) Zealots
Evangelicals are the New Zealots, and that spells danger for democracy and for the planet. The danger lies in the fantastical world created by evangelicals. The danger becomes personal in the symbol of guns and precarious in their climate denial….
Q&A with a traumatologist on how to prevent clergy abuse and burnout
Editor’s note: The following article was published by BNG on June 7, 2021, but is being republished today because of its relevance to the new report on sexual abuse in the SBC. The unwillingness or inability to do the…
Check your idols at the church door. Trinket gods aren’t worth much.
Let’s name these false deities security, convenience and control. These are not three separate gods. They are the same idols, simply described in different ways, each highlighting different connotations and pointing in slightly different trajectories.
The lifetime value of church leaders
Last year our homeowner’s insurance company paid, minus our deductible, for the replacement of our roof. Significant hail damage over a year or two necessitated the replacement of the roof. This year we had a plumbing problem that resulted in…