Just prior to the 2008 presidential election, 52% of American adults attended worship. As the 2024 election approached, only 31% of the white American population was regularly in church, a decline of 21 percentage points. In 2008, 68% of 18-…
How Trump’s latest comments on Israel align with evangelical Zionism
Donald Trump is in the news again making negative statements about American Jews while flattering his evangelical fanbase. In my piece last week, I wrote about how the dispensationalist obsession with the end times led evangelicals to embrace the Christian Zionist…
The Four Horsemen of the New Atheist apocalypse meet world history through the lens of three new books
I was working as a part-time activity director at a nursing home when Anna approached me, her face shrouded in bewilderment. “This morning,” she said in a shaky voice, “a man on the radio said there are people who don’t…
Letter to the Editor – Responding to a commentary on heaven and hell
From Kirby D. Smith in Midlothian, Virginia
Heaven-or-hell theology may be simple, but it is neither biblical nor morally defensible. What’s the alternative?
Most of our churches have left heaven-or-hell theology far behind, but we’re afraid to offer a viable alternative. It’s time for moderate and progressive mainline preachers to talk about the biblical vision of universal redemption.