During Thanksgiving week, I watched two movies: Wicked and Gladiator II. Both movies reminded me of evangelicals up to their television satellites and steeples in secular politics. I watched the citizens of Oz pour into the streets, singing, “The wicked…
The 3 temptations of Christ are similar to Trump’s temptations to evangelicals
Many distractions in this life take a person off of their true path. Even as I put these words together, I think about everything unrelated to my writing. I am thinking about my career and need to find work that gets me…
Both Mainline Christians and evangelicals lost relevance by seeking power, podcast emphasizes
White evangelicals have swapped cultural and religious relevance for political power in the hope of creating a society made in their own image, author and historian of religion Randall Balmer said. But faith groups enmeshed in authoritarian causes like Donald…
The leadership house is on fire …
… And it is a good idea to allow it to burn to the ground. Then we can stand around its ashes in solidarity as we work to allow the emergence of a new way to practice the important craft…
TIME’s ‘If He Wins’ interview with Trump doesn’t mention religion, faith or religious liberty
A 5,000-word interview with Donald Trump published April 30 in TIME magazine does not mention the words “church,” “religion,” “faith” or “religious liberty” anywhere. The sweeping article focuses on what Trump plans to do if sent back to the White…
As MAGA pastors gain influence, let’s talk about peace instead of power
“Kind of disturbing” is how journalist Katie Couric described an Axios piece about how Donald Trump built an insurmountable lead in Monday’s Iowa caucus by catering to evangelical MAGA pastors. “They say obviously they embrace Trump because of the Supreme Court justices who helped…
On the SBC, Alliance and CBF and lost causes
The histories we tell ourselves about our churches and denominations are important. They shape organizational identities and give greater meaning to the work churches and denominations conduct in the wider world. When those histories become deeply engrained, they can morph…
On women, aliens and when power usurps love
Then turning toward the woman, (Jesus) said to Simon, “Do you see this woman?” — Luke 7:44 My mother-in-law and her brother often use a repeating trope: “When the aliens come” we’ll be ready or not ready because we…
The SBC and its sacrament of power
The Southern Baptist Convention continues on its crusade to rid Baptist churches of women in ordained leadership of any kind. I have looked with dismay at its inexorable path of patriarchal power and the denigration of women. So churches with…