Kids don’t show up at school and suddenly say racist things to their classmates because of who won a presidential election; most often they repeat what they’ve heard at home. College students don’t suddenly start yelling racial epithets on a…
Believing what we’ve preached, post-election
For the past two weeks, I’ve crafted my sermons in light of the election that was coming. I engaged the themes raised by the lectionary texts of the day to deal with the difficulty of an election season that put…
For the church, a call to be bold
The mood was incredible. I was gathered with my closest friends in the world. These were the same people I had spent 2008 with, the same people who came to my wedding earlier this year, and the same people who…
Church must leave four walls to heal post-election angst, Baptist leader says
Suzii Paynter didn’t get on Facebook first thing Wednesday morning like so many millions of other Americans did. But Paynter, executive coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, said she didn’t need social media immediately to tell her how people felt…
White evangelicals don’t heed leaders’ concerns about Trump
Many white evangelicals did not follow their leaders voicing grave concerns about Donald Trump, according to exit polls showing the president-elect winning four out of every five votes cast by a demographic long taken for granted by the GOP. The…
The Walking Dead (aka Night of the Living Evangelicals)
Many evangelicals actually denounced the GOP candidate in this election cycle, and yet the evangelical voting bloc elected Donald Trump. Trump had more support from white evangelicals than John McCain in 2008 or Mitt Romney in 2012. Trump garnered five…
The great white backlash
As I look at the clock I notice it is a little passed three in the morning on the day after the election and I am hopeless. In the midst of deep desperation, I metaphorically turn to paper and ink…
Elections and earthquakes: Discovering the unshakable
I have the interesting assignment of writing this column the day before the presidential election that won’t be published until the day after we head to the polls. I don’t mind. Writing offers a welcome break from the hourly task…
A sermon for the day of the U.S. presidential election
Voting is often said to be the institution that makes democracies democratic. But it is often overlooked that there is a coercive aspect to all elections. After an election 50.1% get to tell 49.9% what to do.
Religious liberty amidst religious pluralism
I spent Sunday with the good folk of University Heights Baptist Church in Springfield, Mo. It is a strong American Baptist Churches-Cooperative Baptist Fellowship church, and annually the congregation hosts a Baptist Heritage Sunday. Last year Dr. Neville Callam of…
Who will we be tomorrow?
There’s been a lot of conversation about exactly how folks — especially church folks — are feeling about this dreadful election season. Anger, resentment, disappointment, offense, shock — the list goes on. I’ve certainly felt each of those at some…
Ministers offer a spiritual word to the stressed on Election Day
Remember 2012, when Obama versus Romney seemed like a contentious presidential election? It was enough for a group of Mennonite ministers, who responded back then by launching the Election Day Communion movement. The idea was to inspire Christians to use…