I confess to the temptation of dismissing evangelical rhetoric of the political sort as symptomatic of one or another particularly noxious pathology. There’s also my own impatience at what I discern as the absurdity of evangelical political messages confidently delivered…
Tips for having a Thanksgiving Dinner conversation about immigrants without choking
Christians compassionate toward migrants and refugees can prevent or de-escalate heated arguments during holiday gatherings by developing empathy for disagreeable relatives and staying out of lecture mode, an immigrant advocate and former college debate coach advises. “Your loved ones did…
How does the period before the Civil War resemble our current social climate?
Taking lessons from history can be challenging. History is not static. It is not one thing, and historians are constantly revising and changing their interpretations and frameworks for thinking about the past. It may not be helpful to compare the…
Trump didn’t dupe evangelicals; they chose him, Baptist author says
Author and Baptist pastor Rodney Kennedy is no fan of Donald Trump or of the evangelicals who helped put the former president into the White House in 2016. But he’s equally disdainful of those who portray Trump’s conservative Christian base…
It’s not just in the U.S. that people believe different truths about basic facts
Debating what is — and isn’t — the truth has become a worldwide phenomenon, new research shows. “In France, the U.S., Italy, Spain and Belgium, half or more think that most people in their country disagree on basic facts more…
Why the U.S. is uniquely divided: Engaging a scholar from New Zealand
My last column for BNG, “Covid Wars,” offered a lament over our divided nation. It did not propose solutions, only sorrow and grief. Of course, we must do better than that. We must try to understand how we got here…
When churches turn on themselves
When churches turn on themselves, things get very ugly very quickly. As if it weren’t already hard enough to be and do church in this culture, we face an exponential increase in internal congregational conflict and turmoil. American Christians are…
The Trump Card: How white evangelicals are being played
As a Christian leader, I will not be silent about the current state of white evangelicalism in America. I must lay out the facts, clearly and succinctly. Due to the rise of Donald Trump and Trumpism, white American evangelicalism has…
‘The meanness of this moment’ in America (and its churches)
Recently, a friend asked, “Has American culture gone completely mad?” Today, I’d add to that troubling question this troubled response: “It’s not just that American culture has gone mad, it’s also gone mean. Meanness, to quote a Bette Midler song,…