This is the sixth in a BNG series of articles on Christianity and democracy that will lead toward the July 4 celebration of America’s 250th birthday. The series has been curated by Carol McEntyre, senior minister at First Baptist Church…
Democracy as the practice of loving our neighbors
In November 1883, 38-year-old Emma Lazarus wrote a poem as part of a fundraising effort for Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi’s “Liberty Enlightening the World” — what we now know as the Statue of Liberty. Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled…
Why I will boycott the UFC pay-per-view from the White House
A nation’s birthday should reveal what it values most. As America approaches its 250th anniversary, I find myself reflecting less on fireworks and celebrations and more on the meaning of freedom itself. That reflection has led me to a personal…
Democracy’s decline tests new United Methodist Church
No United Methodist who knows anything about the denomination’s history can feel anything but profound sadness at what’s happening to the American democratic republic. Good and bad, The United Methodist Church and its predecessors have shaped and been shaped by…
The guardrails preserving our democracy
I want to consider some good news today. The good news is that certain cultural, political and legal guardrails are holding against Donald Trump and his government right now. I am not suggesting our democracy is in the clear. I…
‘We need the moral courage to stand where Pope Leo stood this morning’
Posting an image of himself as Jesus, making apocalyptic threats against Iran and criticizing Pope Leo XIV gave faith leaders and political strategists plenty to condemn about President Donald Trump during a recent symposium hosted by Yale Divinity School. Speakers…
Democracy is not a spectator sport
There are moments in American history when the question is not which party will win, but whether self-government itself is working as intended. This feels like one of those moments. On Feb. 12, 1809, Abraham Lincoln was born into a…
What does this mean?
Last night, America witnessed a political tremor that may very well be a preview of a historic electoral tsunami in 2026. From Virginia to New York, from Boston to Cincinnati, and across the statehouses and city halls of this nation,…
‘Never before have we seen this,’ Pritzker and Perryman agree
The politicization of democracy is one of the most disturbing precedents of Donald Trump’s second presidency, Democracy Forward President Skye Perryman said during a livestreamed conversation with Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker. American democracy and constitutional freedoms never have endured the…
Trump administration refuses to document ‘anti-Christian bias’ concerns
President Donald Trump’s Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias faces yet more litigation demanding the release of records related to the commission’s investigation of government agencies. Democracy Forward and Interfaith Alliance filed a lawsuit Oct. 22 to obtain documents from…
When leaders turn guns on their own people
History teaches us a hard truth: Democracies don’t collapse only when institutions fail — they collapse when leaders turn their weapons on the very people they are sworn to serve. Tanks in the streets, tear gas in the squares, troops…
3 things you can do to defend our constitutional government
I am deeply grieved by what I am seeing in the United States today. Since the current administration took office, there have been 34 to 40 federal injunctions and more than 120 lawsuits filed against the administration’s overreach and breaches…