In an excellent Nov. 13 Washington Post column about how white evangelicals have whored themselves to support the most immoral president of our lifetime, Michael Gerson hit upon a word that jumped off the screen at me: “transactional.” He wrote:…
The first thing you think when you get COVID-19
Here’s the first thing you think when you get COVID-19: “I wish I could turn back time.” If only I hadn’t gone … or stayed … or passed by … or did whatever it was that caused me to catch…
2020 vote shows religious identity held steady with slight change among Catholics and Mormons
Religious identity trends appear to have held fairly steady in the 2020 presidential election, based on a combination of exit polling and pre-election surveys. Because of the enormous number of Americans who voted by mail or in advance this year,…
Five challenges for the church after this election
Amid all the analysis and opining about the 2020 presidential election, one thing must not be overlooked: The church’s witness in the world has been damaged almost beyond repair. The politicization of the faith, the abandonment of biblical teaching, the…
Barrett joins in debate as Supreme Court weighs Philadelphia religious liberty case
The United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments Nov. 4 in its first major religious liberty case since the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and installation of a new firm conservative majority on the court. The case, Fulton v….
Hybrid church is probably here to stay, but some things don’t translate well to digital
If you’re wondering whether the pandemic and online church will have a lasting effect on how churches operate, new research from Barna indicates the answer is a definitive yes. While most churchgoing Americans long to be back in their physical…
CBF staff reorganization made known
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has reorganized its Decatur, Ga., staff around nine major areas as an outgrowth of the Toward Bold Faithfulness initiative and budget constraints. In October, the CBF Governing Board approved a balanced budget for 2020-2021 that required…
This year’s electorate is different — and fewer are white Christians
The United States electorate — defined as those who are eligible to vote and registered to vote — changes some from year to year but changed significantly over the span of a few years. A compilation of data from Pew…
Why herd immunity is worse than other potential ethical concerns about a COVID-19 vaccine
The ethical issues surrounding development of a COVID-19 vaccine are complex but pale in comparison to the deaths that would be necessary to reach so-called “herd immunity” in the United States. Questions get raised about the feared use of fetal tissue from…