Numerous conservative pastors and commentators have declared to their flocks that true Christians must vote Republican if they are faithful. Chief among those is Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, who told a conservative political action group this…
Once again, white evangelicals are outliers on beliefs about race and American history
White evangelicals are much more likely than other U.S. adults to believe white Americans face as much discrimination as Blacks and other people of color, Public Religion Research Institute found in its recently released 2022 American Values Survey. A smaller…
A plea to people of faith on behalf of our LGBTQ friends
In 1996, an LGBTQ activist in Hawai`i somehow convinced me that it would be a “great idea” to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The committee was deciding on whether or not to bring an amendment defining marriage before Hawai`i…
How men have controlled women using the Bible
Christianity has utilized a biased reading of the sacred biblical texts to privilege men as leaders in church, home and in most vocations. From the Old Testament to the 21st century, men authored, translated and edited most of Scripture and…
Moral Mondays are taking up residence in Jackson to fight water crisis
Bishop William J. Barber brought his Poor People’s Campaign and Moral Mondays to Jackson, Miss., Sept. 26 to protest a notoriously neglected and broken water system that has generated hundreds of boil advisories in the last two years alone and…
Seeing whitewashed history for the pale reality it is
On a recent trip to Colonial Williamsburg and Richmond, Va., I saw things from a different point of view. As I looked into racial minority issues, predominantly those of Africans, I was shocked at how melanin became evil. It is…
India at 75: The world’s largest democracy is dying of toxic nationalism
Think white Christian nationalism is the most dangerous form of identity politics in the democratic world? Meet Hindu nationalism, which is systematically destroying secular democracy — and civil society — in India. I sincerely regret raining on the parade of…
I’ve been unaware of my privilege, and if you are a man, you probably have, too
In this time of increased, and justified, attention to gender inequities, I have been thinking about my own life. It occurs to me that while I have supported women colleagues, female students and girls within my circle of family and…
It’s still ‘Christians only’ at this Tennessee Methodist adoption agency
A Methodist foster care and adoption agency that receives government funding may continue to serve “Christians only” because the Jewish couple who challenged the agency were found by a Tennessee court not to have legal standing. The religious discrimination at…