A pastor praying outside an ICE facility in Chicago gets shot in the head by a pepper pellet and collapses to the ground in pain. Commentators dispute whether the protesters had been warned to leave, although currently circulating videos don’t…
JD Vance would deny immigrants emergency care
JD Vance converted to Catholicism in 2019 and went on to be critiqued by the last two popes on his stance of immigration. Vance, it seems, does not let the disapproval of the pope keep him from still claiming his…
Dear white evangelicals, I was wrong
I need to offer a full apology to white evangelicals. I was wrong. You were right. I make no excuses and offer no explanations or caveats. I wish I would have listened to you and taken your warnings seriously. The…
Should everything be ‘run like a business’?
I’m waiting for the day when people think businesses ought to be run like churches. You know, more interested in helping people than turning a huge profit. It’s only fair, because for so long church members have demanded that their…
Calling Donald Trump a ‘good businessman’ illustrates the problem of bowing down to ‘business’
Driving down the road last week, I (Mark) heard a radio journalist interview Hispanic immigrant voters (legal ones, for all you who worry about this) about how they’ll vote in this fall’s presidential election. One made the case that he…
Evangelicals quoting Scripture: Whatever happened to Romans 13?
Not long ago, our evangelical brothers (and some sisters) seemed to like this passage a lot. So did the previous presidential administration. “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and…
Our weekly gun massacres mark a devastating cultural failure
Our weekly gun massacres in the United States are shocking in the extreme. They set us apart from other nations in the worst possible sense. I have not yet been in or near one of these massacres. The closest I…
Pastor rushes home to Missouri city pounded by twister
First Baptist was only a few blocks from the tornado’s path but sustained no damage, Sager said. His home wasn’t touched and so far no members of the church have reported damage through the church’s available social media outlets.
Joining the team: In politics, it’s time to become diehard fans again
In the United States, we love our sports. There’s something both weird and fascinating about it. I’ve never been what you would call a diehard fan (although the 10 years I lived in the Midwest was enough to turn my…
When religious groups do what the government won’t
Are faith-based programs for the poor a problem when there’s no secular alternative?
Governments have worldviews, too
By Jonathan Waits So apparently John Kasich, Ohio governor and longshot Republican presidential candidate, wants to create a government agency tasked with spreading the values and morals of the Judeo-Christian worldview. Let’s start by calling this what it is: a…
SCOTUS got this one wrong
With all due respect to my blogging colleague, Jonathan Waits and his blog post, the US Supreme Court got the decision wrong about the town of Greece, NY and their ceremonial prayers. How prayers are handled in government sponsored settings…