Demographic shifts, rising political polarization and heated debates over sexuality and race pose existential threats to the American church because they cannot be tackled individually, according to veteran religion writer Bob Smietana. “It’s not that one thing after another is…
Predominantly Black churches still have a future, Tisby asserts
While research shows that many Black Christians prefer to attend racially diverse congregations, predominantly Black churches will continue to hold strong as racism surges across the nation, according to historian and author Jemar Tisby. “More than half of people in…
BJC offers free downloadable report explaining January 6 in light of Christian nationalism
A new 63-page report takes a deep dive into the role of Christian nationalism in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and the ongoing, once-underground movement to overturn constitutional democracy in favor of government for and by…
Panel of faith leaders will raise awareness of death penalty injustice
A Christian organization active in the nation’s death penalty abolition movement has created a panel of faith leaders charged with addressing the systemic issues that give rise to capital punishment and rationalize its continued use. “This is not a board…
BNG column sparks Thanksgiving Twitter war of words between complementarians and two female scholars
When David Gushee wrote his article “The Deconstruction of American Evangelicalism” for Baptist News Global, he kicked off what would become the focus of the next stage in the debate between conservative evangelical complementarians and their egalitarian counterparts. That debate took…
The deconstruction of American evangelicalism
We are witnessing at this moment the intellectual deconstruction of a religious group that has been called “evangelicalism.” Illusions about this community are being destroyed left and right. Of course, those illusions first eroded in practice, through the contradictions and…
Hashtags won’t defeat white Christian nationalism, panelists warn
Ongoing efforts by white Christian nationalists to destabilize American democracy must be met with the courage and grassroots activism made famous by the 1960s Civil Rights movement, panelists said during the second of two Aug. 18 webinars on the movement….
The Color of Compromise: American Christianity’s legacy of racism calls for ‘repentance and repair’
In his new book, The Color of Compromise, Jemar Tisby documents the ways in which white Christians, churches and religious institutions inside and outside the South manifested, acquiesced to and facilitated racist responses to people of color in general and African Americans in particular.
Evangelicals have lost moral credibility. But there are signs of self-confrontation that could lead to reconciliation, even revival
Whatever moral credibility American evangelicals once had, they have lost. They have chosen to die on the 45th hill, and it has been painful and despairing to watch. Our nation desperately needs strong faith communities that are able to articulate a clear moral voice, even if it convicts them, too.