A new online resource documents the religious components of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the United States Capitol. Uncivil Religion: January 6, 2021 is a collaboration of the University of Alabama’s Department of Religious Studies and the Smithsonian’s National…
The long, dry line from 9-11 to Jan. 6
Every year, just before the end of the old year and the beginning of the new, my wife and I always watch CBS’s annual broadcast of the Kennedy Center Honors. We love it. We weep with the honorees, the masters…
Why is anybody still giving money to Franklin Graham?
On the anniversary of the greatest single domestic threat to American democracy since the Civil War, what would you expect a respected religious leader to say? After the president of the United States calls out his predecessor’s perpetually expanding web…
On anniversary of Capitol insurrection, panelists explain what’s delaying prosecutions
Americans seeking justice for the high-level orchestrators of the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the United States Capitol — including former President Donald Trump — need to understand the unfolding prosecution is a long game, but still one with a…
The Capitol insurrection, the Lost Cause and the Confederate flag
On Jan. 6, 2021, I was in quarantine, recovering from COVID-19. As I read and watched TV to pass the time, I began to see early reports of the attack on the U.S. Capitol. I saw the events of that…
Southern Baptist author urges distinction between love of God and love of country
The “America first” brand of nationalism that has flourished during the Donald Trump era is a near-idolatrous exaltation of country that has usurped biblical notions of patriotism for many evangelicals and other Americans, Southern Baptist preacher and author Adam Wyatt…
January 6 truth or consequences
Seeking out the truth has seldom been more urgent for Americans than it is now. We possess more factual information than any generation in human history yet differ over the most basic propositions. The dichotomy threatens our future. Truth makes…
One year after Jan. 6, some things are worth dividing over
In his classic work Why I Am a Christian, the late Anglican theologian John Stott prophetically penned gloomy words that, at the time, mostly fell on deaf ears. “The technocratic society, which diminishes and even destroys transcendence and significance,” Stott…
Facing white Christianity’s role in the Jan. 6 insurrection
On Jan. 20, 2021, President Joe Biden became the first commander in chief to use the words “white supremacy” in an inaugural address. Naming “the cry of racial justice 400 years in the making” and its corollary, “a rise in…