On Inauguration Day evening, I went to bed exhausted with the mix of the day’s emotions. Joy over the beginning of a new administration; relief there had been no violence; and sorrow — sorrow over all the human lives lost…
The blasphemy of Franklin Graham
According to the newspaper in his father’s hometown of Charlotte, N.C., Franklin Graham thinks the 10 Republican congressional leaders who voted to impeach President Trump were like Judas, who betrayed Jesus. “The House Democrats impeached him because they hate him…
‘He being dead, yet speaketh’
Another new year has come, and I have a new year’s resolution — actually a rerun of 2020 that never clicked. Clean out a stack, or two, of “When I get a moment, I want to read this” newspapers, journals…
On coronavirus beliefs, ‘It’s evangelical Protestants against everyone else’
When asked in October to list their top concerns, white evangelicals listed abortion, fair presidential elections and terrorism. The coronavirus didn’t make the cut, noted Robert P. Jones, CEO and founder of the Public Religion Research Institute. “Looking at their…
Is attacking a candidate’s sermon different than attacking a candidate’s speeches?
Attacking a political candidate for something said in a speech is different than attacking a candidate for something preached in a sermon, according to Amanda Tyler, executive director of Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. Tyler and BJC Director of…
Understanding Black theology, white fragility
Back in 2011, Raphael Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta (and currently in a runoff for one of Georgia’s two U.S. Senate seats), preached a sermon drawn from the Gospel of Matthew about whether a person could serve…
How transactional faith led evangelicals to embrace transactional politics
In an excellent Nov. 13 Washington Post column about how white evangelicals have whored themselves to support the most immoral president of our lifetime, Michael Gerson hit upon a word that jumped off the screen at me: “transactional.” He wrote:…
3 ways money poisons politics and 3 ways to address the problem
Money has poisoned the well of democracy in the United States. How, you might ask? In several ways. First, as the Scripture tells us, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager…
Prescription for a divided nation: Love and forgiveness
It didn’t surprise me in recent weeks to read articles like the essay Gene Weingarten wrote for the Washington Post in which he lamented the fact that “I find myself profoundly disliking and disrespecting almost half of my countrymen and…