“There’s always that fear that at any point in time it could be stopped or ended.”
‘Broken Churches, Broken Nation’: Yes, Pastor Jeffress, words do ‘mean something’
If words really do “mean something,” as Robert Jeffress asserted, correctly, then the rhetoric of “civil war,” “treason” or “coup” used by president, pastor or any of us is not only divisive but dangerous.
Trump, Kavanaugh and their strange (religious) bedfellows
It’s not every day that the progressive Americans United for the Separation of Church and State and the conservative American Family Association agree on something. But it’s happened thanks to President Trump, whose nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, 53, to the…
Baptist Joint Committee head ‘disappointed’ by Supreme Court decision upholding White House travel ban
The head of a Baptist religious liberty watchdog agency voiced disappointment with Tuesday’s Supreme Court decision upholding President Donald Trump’s so-called Muslim ban. “We are deeply disappointed by the Supreme Court’s refusal to repudiate policy rooted in animus against Muslims,”…
The dangerous demands of uncritical loyalty
It is worrying that valueless loyalty has achieved a stranglehold on much of the American psyche, having really ratcheted up in this current era of cable news. But even more concerning is that It has also firmly taken hold of evangelical Christianity and propelled it to unsightly levels of hypocrisy.
In the present moment: afraid to speak, afraid to be silent
Since that disturbing Oval Office pronouncement there have been thousands of opinions written across the political spectrum, endless hours dedicated to punditocracy in the marketplace, countless words of pulpiteering offered by the Church. And I’ve been afraid to speak.
Looking into the heart of racism and responding with … love
Martin Luther King Jr. knew that the fight for justice and equality must continue, but he also knew that no protest or law or court battle can change a heart. What can is love, but not just any kind of love.
Out of Africa: White supremacy and the Church’s silence
At this moment in history, how can American Christians, themselves deeply divided over scripture, doctrine, sexuality, abortion, and other culture war accoutrements, foster a common compulsion to speak out against white supremacist fiction before it gains an even stronger implicit or explicit influence?
Mental fitness and humility: You can’t have one without the other
President Trump would not be the only political or religious figure ever to be questioned about fitness for a position. The alchemy of autocratic decision-making with the presumption of self-sufficiency makes for a toxic concoction.