Dear church, Today I write to you from three places in my soul: parent, prophet and pastor. Like many Texas parents, I had a momentary flash of panic last Tuesday. I opened my news app on the way to pick…
The three arguments used to block sensible gun control and why they’re flawed
The most we manage to produce in the wake of another school shooting is a spate of arguments back and forth. Never any action. The satirical website The Onion is infamous for this headline, posted after almost every mass shooting:…
On abortion and guns: How is that American Christians can come to such different understandings of our faith?
On Dec. 10, the United States Supreme Court upheld Senate Bill 8, the Texas ban on abortions — not officially overturning Roe v. Wade, the court case legalizing abortion, but certainty sinking its future. On Dec. 1, I traveled with…
While we’re talking about guns in America, let’s talk about our fear-based theology that also drives gun sales
The sound of skidding tires filled the air as the car spun around, the window rolled down, and an arm reached out. It wasn’t until the third shot that I realized that I was staring down the barrel of a…
Here’s the link between COVID vaccine denial and opposition to sensible gun control
If you want to understand why we can’t get even the simplest of gun safety laws passed in this country, look to the stats on COVID-19 vaccinations. New polling out this week — released between the horrific shootings in Atlanta…
Moral leadership in the face of gun violence: For the church, this IS our lane
The Church cannot afford to be silent about gun violence in America, not only because of the lives it claims, but also because it is connected to issues such as homophobia, misogyny and racism.
Beto O’Rourke’s debate invective and the new ‘Back to School’ video are the jeremiads of our time
Firearms aren’t on the slippery slope; the American people are. We’re the ones whose kids are scared to go to school.
‘It feels like being hunted’: American churches, mass shootings and ‘the slaughter of the innocents’
It’s a question we have asked countless times: have we reached a turning point? Do our faith communities, whose history began at the place of the skull and the killing fields of a Roman coliseum, have a will or a witness for our assault-weapon-proliferated, executionary times?
The President is right: Mental illness is killing all of us
Trump isn’t altogether wrong – gun deaths in America are driven by a mental health crisis. However, instead of that un-wellness resting upon a lone shooter or evil terrorist, it is visited upon all of us who still believe that the same circular conversation will actually result in something different.