President Joe Biden’s successful campaign for the presidency in 2020 was resuscitated from near intensive care desperation thanks to Black voters in South Carolina and the endorsement of South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn. South Carolina is the first Democratic Party…
Slavery and guns in America: The constitutional parallels
“We don’t have to die like this. We don’t have to live like this.” Those two sentences have become something of a mantra for Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. I heard her say…
Saving our churches from Dylann Roof’s white Jesus
Dylann Roof, the white Christian man who murdered nine African Americans during the closing prayer of a Bible study at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston in 2015, was back in the news recently after a federal appeals court upheld his conviction…
Want to understand Critical Race Theory? Read the Good Samaritan story
This is the third in a series of opinion columns to be published over the next three weeks exploring Critical Race Theory. Critical Race Theory grew out of the work of legal scholars of color who recognized how racism was structured…
Another church shooting: Have we become ‘morally anesthetized’ to the horrors of gun violence?
Sadly, West Freeway Church of Christ will not be the last American faith community to endure violent trauma. Yes, religious communities must develop security strategies for protecting vulnerable worshippers, but people of faith must reject any idea that such horror is normative.
Do only black football players sexually assault coeds at Baylor?
This is a big month in race relations among Baptists. This week at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, Jerry Young, president of the National Baptist Convention USA Inc. was a speaker, and a participant with SBC president…
Naming the Mother Emmanuel massacre
The nine individuals murdered last night in Mother Emmanuel Church are martyrs. Their lives bear faithful witness not just to a particular faith, but also to a segment of citizenry within both our country and the peaceable kingdom of Jesus…