It puzzles me that there are Christians who are unwilling to accept people who, for one reason or another, are inherently different from themselves. I have been a Christian for more than seven decades and an ordained minister, missionary, professor…
How would Jesus vote?
Is Jesus liberal or conservative? Let’s turn to science to help answer that question, through a study by Jer Clifton and Nick Kerry at the University of Pennsylvania. They have continued surveying the underlying beliefs that separate liberals and conservatives….
When political leadership uses religion as a tool of power
One of the most troubling trends in modern leadership is the growing use of religion as a political instrument. The practice is not new. Political leaders, especially where democratic institutions are weak, have learned that religion reaches people at the…
Three Americas and the coalition we need
Not long ago, I was sitting with a friend who is building his own business. He works long days, serves people well and is doing what Americans always have been told to do: Work hard, take responsibility and keep pushing…
No political victory should be worth sacrificing moral integrity
Graham Platner’s campaign to dethrone Susan Collins as one of Maine’s two senators has come to an abrupt end following allegations of sexual assault. In an 11-minute-long video on X, the progressive firebrand launched a combative defense calling the allegations…
3 views on Donald Trump held by American Christians
There is a divide among Christians in the United States about how to respond to the urgency of our present crisis. Leaving aside for a moment those who claim the name of Christ but gleefully support an immoral president doing…
The transmogrification of the SBC: When Baptists no longer are Baptist
As the Southern Baptist Convention in its recent annual meeting has proved itself unreliably Baptist, it gives me pause to think about how quickly the transmogrification of this Baptist denomination into its ecclesiastical opposite has happened. Baptist folk often have…
British politicians are doing God. Voters would rather they didn’t.
The British public want politicians to steer clear of religion just as key Westminster figures amp up debates on Christianity’s role in the country, new polling shows.
What does America’s blue state to red state migration mean?
Conservative groups claim there’s a migration of U.S. residents from Democratic-led states to Republican-led states due to politics and “family values.” Others say that claim is overblown or misinterpreted. Fox News has called it “the great wealth migration (to the)…
Yes, the pope is a politician
I recall Helms and I, while co-pastors of a congregation for about five years, working through the following church life issues: The color of the new carpet Whether (and how) to remove the American flag from the sanctuary Guiding the…
Can justice movements lose their soul?
Public life in America feels increasingly volatile. Anger saturates political discourse. Across the ideological spectrum, our public conversations often mirror the hostility they claim to resist. Many people reach for the language of prophecy to justify the indignation they assume…
Let’s move beyond Pee-wee Herman politics
James Talarico has figured prominently in the news and on social media lately, especially so after he defeated Democratic U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the Texas Democratic primary. In the November general election, he will face either incumbent Republican U.S….