My grandpa, Edwin Penner, mortgaged his house to build our hometown Baptist church in Chico, Calif. Once built, he drove his Dodge pickup over every Sunday at 6 a.m. to turn on the heat or air conditioning for the comfort…
Republicans seek votes with ad campaign warning of ‘radical trans agenda’
Three decades after Christian conservatives sought to rouse voters’ fears of a “radical gay agenda,” Republicans are spending $65 million on election advertising about a “radical trans agenda,” according to The New York Times and other outlets. “Kamala is for…
When white male pastors challenge Black female leaders
Supporters of the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists expressed surprise and shock when leaders of the American Baptist Churches in the USA recently sent a cease-and-desist letter asking to be removed as a “partner” on AWAB’s website. The original…
Appeals court puts the final nail in student effort to hold religious school accountable for LGBTQ discrimination
An advocacy group for more than 30 LGBTQ students marginalized by religious colleges and universities will continue the struggle for justice after the recent dismissal of its class action lawsuit against three Christian colleges and universities and the federal government….
LDS Church puts strict bans on transgender participation
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known as the Mormon church, has taken one of the harshest formal positions against transgender identity of any faith group in America. Last month, LDS leaders rolled out new policies that bar…
‘Pro-family’ legislative groups add state-based legal centers to their culture war arsenals
Conservative Christian “pro-family” groups affiliated with Focus on the Family are adding state legal groups to their arsenal so they can combat old legislation they say violates their values and freedoms. Focus on the Family began creating a network of…
10 examples of conservative evangelicals turning truth into dangerous lies
Conservative evangelicals claim to be the arbiters of truth in a post-truth world. But if we take a moment to consider how the last few months have gone, we’ll notice a pattern emerge. Story after story, conservatives are the ones…
The book is out
I got all hot and bothered several months ago when I heard that Richard Hays (and his son Christopher) had finally published something reversing his silly Moral Vision of the New Testament chapter (published in 1996) in which he argued the Bible is against same-sex sexual…
Who’s woke at Bubba-Doo’s?
You don’t always have to know someone in order to learn a great deal from them. Sometimes, just using our eyes and ears will tell us a lot. We had just pulled up to Bubba-Doo’s. It was a Saturday morning,…