I was talking with a senior Mercer University colleague yesterday about the divisions engulfing our nation over COVID vaccines and masks. Carl has served as a pastor, professor and politician. He’s a very wise man. I said: “Carl, two years…
‘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,…
Let’s demonize racism, not Critical Race Theory
Since the former president unwillingly departed the office, his Republican minions have leaned into the ardent racist dog whistles and racial mythologies he employed in trying unsuccessfully to remain in power. Big among these Republican racial tropes is the idea…
The big news from the 2020 Census is multiculturalism, which threatens some people and still eludes most churches
Demographers have been predicting for three decades that the United States was headed toward a non-majority status for any single racial group in the population. Results of the 2020 Census released last week confirm that ongoing trend, but the real…
Americans are deeply divided over the need for racial healing and how to talk about the nation’s past
Americans remain intensely split over the pace and need for racial healing more than a year after the police killing of George Floyd unleashed massive social and political upheaval, new research shows. The Pew Research Center also has found deep…
America’s racial sins are sins against God
Too many American Christians act as if our nation has somehow earned God’s approval through our inherent virtue. Instead, I believe the largest way America has reflected Christianity is in how we have been completely dependent upon the grace (unmerited…
Pastors, speak your truth while you still have time
“Make your peace with being honest in ministry today. Don’t wait until you’re older or find the ‘perfect’ church. If you aren’t honest today, you may never make it that far.” I was a youth minister when my pastor and…
‘They’re like children’: Confronting the myth of white paternal control
Some of the most pernicious and racist political myths circulating in our culture were used as a justification for chattel slavery and later as compelling arguments supporting Jim Crow segregation. I’ve recently been reading and reflecting on a myth I…
God bless the USA but don’t mess with Texas: Reflections on America by a native Texan returning to Texas
I recently returned to Texas after living in Boston for the last several years. I grew up in Texas. I’m not unaccustomed to the culture here, but sometimes I’m a bit taken off guard by aspects of West Texas culture…