When we boil down all the assorted examples of how evangelicals have sold themselves to Donald Trump for 30 pieces of silver, one word summarizes it all: Hypocrisy. Call it irony. Call it opportunism. Call it greed. Call it a…
Lent, confession and the ‘no true Scotsman’ fallacy
These 40 days of Lent are designed to be opportunities for sober reflection and acts of confession, both individual and corporate. This period of introspection leads to the high point of Holy Week, the commemoration of the crucifixion of Jesus…
Stranger in the Village: James Baldwin and inclusion
In the summer of 2019, I rode a bus high into the Swiss Alps, a terror ride straight out of Six Flags, to visit the most important site in American race relations that nobody knows about. In 1951, the author…
Denny Burk pushes back against Rick Warren’s new understanding of women in ministry
Yes, women may have preached on the Day of Pentecost, but the “office of pastor” is reserved for men, a leading spokesman for complementarian theology said in response to Rick Warren’s recent explanation about why he changed his mind on…
Akin apologizes for tweet about slavery but is chastised by the SBC’s far-right
A Southern Baptist Convention seminary president apologized March 11 for his “unwise words” in a tweet about Texas Tech University football coach Mark Adams. The apology tweet was graciously received by many in the SBC and beyond, but it was…
Tennessee representative who proposed execution by ‘hanging by a tree’ needs a history lesson
There’s more than the usual political craziness attached to the recent remark by Tennessee Rep. Paul Sherrell to bring back “hanging by a tree” as an amendment to a firing squad bill. There’s a denial of horrible history. This is…
Three hate groups drove spike in antisemitism and racist propaganda last year
Incidents of racist, antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ propaganda increased substantially in 2022 as major white supremacist groups boosted disinformation campaigns in numerous U.S. states, according to new research by the Anti-Defamation League. The March 8 report documented spikes in the distribution…
Sometimes it’s not a good idea to quote the Bible
Just because you’re quoting the Bible doesn’t mean you’re not embracing racism. That’s a lesson Coach Mark Adams of Texas Tech University learned the hard way last week. While the comments that got him fired were discouraging and inappropriate, what’s…
Paved A Way: Why we need to relearn the history of infrastructure
“You rarely change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” —Buckminster Fuller Learning to tie your shoes in a new knot is really difficult. We spend years learning…