The American Civil War was “a war with a musical soundtrack,” according to Christian McWhirter. And that soundtrack continues to echo through the American church today, illustrating the different life experiences of Black and white Christians in particular, once again…
God’s anointed politician: We’ve seen this act before
The word “anointed” has made a return to politics. Evangelicals, once giddy at pulling off the incredulous claim that Donald Trump was somehow God’s anointed, are not the ones currently attempting to return the “anointing” to presidential politics. Anointing now…
Moderates are an endangered species in the pews, but they aren’t completely extinct at the ballot box
Moderates are such an endangered species that even when you see one in the wild, they’re easy to miss. Pick your favorite hot button topic of the day and you can likely summarize what the left and what the right…
What do we need in this time of apostasy? Revolutionary patience
We are living in a time of apostasy. We might call it the American Captivity of the Church, or of at least of an appallingly large segment of the American church. It has abandoned the heart of Christianity and obscured…
The unsolvable political problem facing those who lead purple churches
The United States is bitterly divided along what we now call red/blue, conservative/liberal, Republican/Democrat lines. Of course, not everyone fits into those boxes, but enough do for the statement to be accurate. The mutual suspicion and social separation between the…
What The Great British Baking Show teaches us about life and politics
A new season of The Great British Baking Show just hit Netflix, meaning 10 episodes of brand-new bakes are in our future. Like everyone else with good taste, I love The Great British Baking Show. I love the polite and…
Religion, race and politics are key factors in attitudes on welcoming refugees
Research into American attitudes about welcoming Afghan, Ukrainian and other refugees into the nation confirms how closely religion, race and politics have become intwined in the United States. “For instance, Hispanic evangelicals, Black Protestants and white nonevangelical Protestants are all…
What the color chart teaches us about surviving in a ‘purple’ church
What follows is a real-life, real-time text report coming to me last Sunday morning from a young adult I know who was in attendance at one of the largest Southern Baptist churches in America. Please keep in mind, this was…
What’s wrong with the ‘you’re being divisive’ argument
Pastors, of all people, should recognize this deflection for what it is. It’s a dirty trick they suffer from all the time. The pastor gets up the courage to speak actual truth about some situation — most likely a sermon…