The Association of Certified Biblical Counselors has removed Bill Shannon, women’s pastor and counseling pastor at John MacArthur’s Grace Community Church, from their approved counselors list due to credible allegations of protecting abusers and harming women. The accusations were cosigned in…
Americans growing less religious and more strictly religious at the same time
In the current sociology of American religion, there are two trends moving in opposite directions. The “nones” are growing in number, while among those who identify as Christian, varieties of fundamentalism are growing. Religion researcher Ryan Burge recently summarized this…
Damaging fundamentalist theologies aside, in Advent we proclaim Christ’s return and re-creation
Now that we have passed the midpoint in the journey of Advent, it’s helpful to remember that Advent is an unfamiliar word for many in our world and in our evolving American culture. It’s a “churchy” word, like Lent or…
That tricky terrain between angry atheists and fundamentalist Christians
Between these two disheartening poles, it’s not the muddled mush of some middle ground I’m seeking — which makes staking a claim to “free and faithful” even more difficult.
Author says women’s narratives shed new light on SBC conflict
Scholars have analyzed and dissected the turbulent period of 1979-1990 in the Southern Baptist Convention known collectively as the conservative resurgence, fundamentalist takeover or SBC holy war from almost every angle, but until recently most have focused on only half…
An American Taliban?
Has the Christian Right morphed into an American version of the Taliban? Are these folks trying to transform America into a fundamentalist theocracy? Don’t they talk about making the Bible the law of the land? Don’t they speak of “taking…
A call for American evangelical leaders to confront evangelicalism’s lunatic fringe
A Call for American Evangelical Leaders to Confront Evangelicalism’s Lunatic Fringe Every religious movement that grows sufficiently large has a lunatic fringe; extremists attach themselves to religious (and other) movements to gain respectability and a “voice”-to influence the movement and…
Must we choose between fundamentalism and ‘belief-less Christianity’?
John Shuck is a Presbyterian pastor in good standing who doesn’t believe a single thing you learned in Sunday school. In a recent Patheos post, Reverend Shuck issued a list of six affirmations designed to boil the blood of every right-thinking American:…
Rise up against Christian extremists
Thoughtful Christians can’t win the argument with hate-mongers simply by shouting them down. They must respond with loving actions that say clearly to Muslims that the extremists don’t speak for us. Where is the voice of the moderate church today?…