On March 29 in the year of our Lord(?) 2023, hundreds of young people, many of junior and senior high school age, descended on the Tennessee state house in Nashville to demand government action to reduce the threat of school…
Honeycutts’ son-in-law among dead in Louisville shooting
One of the victims of Monday’s mass shooting in downtown Louisville, Ky., is the son-in-law of Roy and June Honeycutt and a member of a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship church. Roy Honeycutt, who died in 2005, was the last moderate president…
Hypocrisy
When we boil down all the assorted examples of how evangelicals have sold themselves to Donald Trump for 30 pieces of silver, one word summarizes it all: Hypocrisy. Call it irony. Call it opportunism. Call it greed. Call it a…
In the Nashville shooting, talk of gender and mental health interrupt the conversation about guns
Confusion over the gender identity of the Nashville school shooter has allowed some commentators to flip the script and blame mental illness, not guns, for the death of three 9-year-olds and three adults at Covenant Day School last week. U.S….
Holy Week 2023: When Golgotha came too early
For me, Palm Sunday didn’t work this year. In the liturgical calendar, Palm Sunday introduces Holy Week, a momentarily joyous prelude to the agony of Golgotha. Palm Sunday is supposed to give us hope that will strengthen us to walk…
Guys, guns and gods
I am an unabashed 1980s baby. My childhood was blessed with He-Man, Transformers, G.I. Joe, and the then-wrestlers from the National Wrestling Alliance, American Wrestling Alliance and the World Wrestling Federation. I grew up memorizing movie lines and moves by…
New York City mayor dismisses need for separation of church and state
New York City Mayor Eric Adams denied the need for separation of church and state in a speech at an interfaith breakfast Feb. 28. “Don’t tell me about no separation of church and state,” he said. “State is the body….
Maybe we need God
Sorry for sounding so much like a preacher, but I don’t know where else to turn. I keep hearing we’ve had more mass shootings in the U.S. than days in 2023. We seem out of control, and despite their claims…
Ten years after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Americans remain worried yet divided on the issue of gun violence
It’s been 10 years since 20 first graders and six adults were killed during a tragic attack by a gunman at Sandy Hook Elementary School. News of the shooting shocked the nation. The event was one of the deadliest school…
Salvation as deliverance and blessing: Moving from Thanksgiving through Advent to Christmas
It was the Old Testament theologian Claus Westermann who startled me years ago by talking about the two ways God saves in the Bible: salvation as deliverance and salvation as blessing. Most theologians and preachers focus on salvation as deliverance,…
Murders at Club Q open debate on American gun violence once again
Just before midnight on Saturday, Nov. 19, a gunman entered Club Q — an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colo. — and opened fire on its guests. Five people were killed and 25 others were injured before a clubgoer subdued…
If you want to offer thoughts and prayers after the latest massacre at a queer club, do so with your actions
Five people were killed and at least 25 injured when a young man walked into a queer bar in Colorado Springs and started shooting. We don’t need any more “thoughts and prayers” after these acts of violence. I’m not saying don’t…