Rodolfo has been taking care of my yard for three or four years. He does a great job and is one of the hardest-working guys I know. I see him all over the neighborhood, mowing and trimming grass. He tends…
They spoke out against the Capitol insurrection; one year later, they’re no longer pastors
Brandon Long wanted the doctrine of “redemption” to be the hill he would die on. Instead, the doctrine of evangelical loyalty to Donald Trump was his demise as a pastor. In 2018, Long and his wife experienced a divine call…
New website illustrates and interprets how religion intertwined with events of January 6
A new online resource documents the religious components of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the United States Capitol. Uncivil Religion: January 6, 2021 is a collaboration of the University of Alabama’s Department of Religious Studies and the Smithsonian’s National…
Why is anybody still giving money to Franklin Graham?
On the anniversary of the greatest single domestic threat to American democracy since the Civil War, what would you expect a respected religious leader to say? After the president of the United States calls out his predecessor’s perpetually expanding web…
Taking out the 2021 trash talk
Country singer Tim McGraw may not have known the social theory that informed his 1995 hit, I Like It, I Love It. As the song’s title hints, something has happened to McGraw that has changed his usual ill-mannered, trashy ways….
On anniversary of Capitol insurrection, panelists explain what’s delaying prosecutions
Americans seeking justice for the high-level orchestrators of the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the United States Capitol — including former President Donald Trump — need to understand the unfolding prosecution is a long game, but still one with a…
The Capitol insurrection, the Lost Cause and the Confederate flag
On Jan. 6, 2021, I was in quarantine, recovering from COVID-19. As I read and watched TV to pass the time, I began to see early reports of the attack on the U.S. Capitol. I saw the events of that…
Southern Baptist author urges distinction between love of God and love of country
The “America first” brand of nationalism that has flourished during the Donald Trump era is a near-idolatrous exaltation of country that has usurped biblical notions of patriotism for many evangelicals and other Americans, Southern Baptist preacher and author Adam Wyatt…
One year after Jan. 6, some things are worth dividing over
In his classic work Why I Am a Christian, the late Anglican theologian John Stott prophetically penned gloomy words that, at the time, mostly fell on deaf ears. “The technocratic society, which diminishes and even destroys transcendence and significance,” Stott…