I’ve never been as welcomed at a church as when I was pregnant. At the time I was pregnant with my first child, we were looking for a church home in Dayton, Ohio. When my husband and I would approach…
Has God really ‘staked everything on men’?
If you want to understand how extreme the male-dominance wing of the Southern Baptist Convention has become, consider this March 30 social media post from Owen Strachan: “God has staked everything on men. Strong men are the foundation of a…
When a child comes out, every family’s journey is different, professor says
Healthy parental responses to a child coming out as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender cannot be reduced to a one-size-fits-all formula, said one of the nation’s leading Christian counselors and scholars focused on sexual identity. “There is no one family…
The seeds of evangelical angst over gender and sex were sown decades ago
If you want to understand the gender and sexual anxieties of evangelical Christians today, look at the seeds sown in their midst in the 1970s and ’80s, according to a couple of researchers recently posting on the topic. Marlena Graves…
How the church in Maryland became the primary auction block for slaves
The Maryland General Assembly passed the first of a series of race laws in 1664. The first iteration transformed enslavement to a lifelong identity rather than a state of indenture or a condition that could be changed. The Maryland General…
Can we talk about Encanto?
Warning: Spoilers ahead. It took the boredom of an icy winter day to convince my tween and teen sons to watch the new Disney animated movie Encanto with me. I had heard the catchy songs topping the Billboard charts and…
Survey asks how Americans prioritize marriage and childbearing
Among all Americans, white evangelicals are most likely to say that prioritizing marriage and having children is better for society, but in real life they are not more likely to be married than other Christians — and previous studies have…
Thoughts on crossing the threshold to a new year
When I was a boy, it happened every New Year’s morning. My father would wake me up early and we would get in his truck and set out to meet most of his seven brothers for coffee and conversation at…
Tim Tebow and Demaryius Thomas and the world we see
After having what will one day be recognized as a Hall of Fame NFL career, Demaryius Thomas died unexpectedly of what police are calling “a medical issue” in his Georgia home on Dec. 9, 2021. He would have turned 34…