“Denial is not a river in Egypt.” I used to hear that sarcastic and humorous pun without really understanding it. After reading too much news for the last year, I understand it too well now. If you’re as slow as…
Confessions of an unpatriotic Christian
As a dog owner, I’m ambivalent at best about fireworks, but I absolutely love a cookout. In fact, I consider myself a connoisseur of all things hotdog, hamburger or potato salad-related and, as a child, I developed abnormally large forearms…
Christian nationalism deeply embedded into American life, Tyler warns
Christian nationalism has seeped so deeply into the fabric of American religious and political life that arguing with its adherents is frustrating and unproductive, according to Amanda Tyler, executive director of BJC. Tyler spoke during a Feb. 26 webinar titled…
Here’s one word to make peace in this political season
Politics is a year-round sport, but the season is intensifying with the coming of the 2020 presidential election. With it, relationships between family members, friends and strangers will become more contentious, strained and precarious. It doesn’t take a prophet or the…
I’m a conservative Christian. I’ve got a problem with the flag.
June 14 is Flag Day. I’ll proudly fly my new flag from our house. But when a church hoists the American flag and the Christian flag, that church immediately puts itself in an unwinnable situation.
Nationalism and the tribal god it creates
Instead of worshipping a Cosmic Christ, many have settled for a tribal deity who suits our tribal behavior. The result? A nationalism which places country above God and uses religion to justify any means.
John the Baptist and religious liberty: getting right what many evangelical preachers get wrong
John the Baptist spoke truth to power, refused to pander to politicians and insisted that no earthly kingdom is coterminous with the Kingdom of God. In other words, John got right what many evangelical preachers get wrong.
5 reasons why reparations talk makes white people crazy
We want our children to come of age hearing the same message of civil religion in church, at their “Christian school” and on Fox News. For those who live in this kind of environment, reparations talk sounds like heresy.
In the present moment: afraid to speak, afraid to be silent
Since that disturbing Oval Office pronouncement there have been thousands of opinions written across the political spectrum, endless hours dedicated to punditocracy in the marketplace, countless words of pulpiteering offered by the Church. And I’ve been afraid to speak.
Kaepernick and Jefferson: Standing for the right to kneel
Jefferson said more than he meant. When he wrote those inspired words that rise boldly from our Declaration of Independence — “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal” — he spoke words that have…
C.S. Lewis predicted Donald Trump
In “The Four Loves,” Lewis talked at length about the horrible damage that can be done by patriotism or love of country. And it sounds like he had Trump down pat.
Do you know the difference between being an American and being a Christian?
One of the great gifts of the Baptist voice to the wider world of Christianity is the idea of the separation of church and state. In the United States, this voice gave direction, via the Constitution, that citizens of our…