I’ve written elsewhere about the role the arts have played in both creating and confronting shared identity and ethics across time. Art is a powerful medium. It has the potential to both reflect and to shape collective memory — which…
Patriot Mobile’s Leigh Wambsganss and the duplicity of Christian nationalist women
Anyone who has been tracking the rise of Christian nationalism should know of Patriot Mobile and its chief communications officer, Leigh Wambsganss. She, the company she represents and that company’s political action committee each had starring roles in investigative journalist…
The lies my country taught me
When I was 12 years old, growing up in the 1950s, I gathered every Saturday with hundreds of kids my age at the downtown theater in my West Texas town where the silver screen fed us lies that passed for…
The Episcopal Church refuses to help Trump Make Apartheid Great Again
On Wednesday, May 21, President Donald Trump once again sullied the presidency and our nation’s reputation by ambushing South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with a made-for-social-media propaganda stunt that was peppered with lies and misleading video about an alleged white…
May 13, 1985: Philadelphia’s Fire Still Burns
Forty years ago, on May 13, 1985, a tragedy unfolded in the Cobbs Creek section of West Philadelphia that would forever scar the conscience of a city and shock the world. On that day, the Philadelphia Police Department — under…
Kindishness: Give it a rest area, Alabamerica
Lost in thought, I missed my exit. That’s not unusual for me. I once drove almost half an hour past the exit to my own house. This time it was a fortunate mistake. I was driving from Tennessee, where our…
Here are all the words Trump wants banned — in one article
American democracy faces its greatest peril since 1861. President Donald Trump and his Project 2025-infused zealots are ripping through two centuries of progress in human rights, civil rights, sexual rights and democratic rights. Historically, race always has been the elephant…
Claims of ‘anti-Christian bias’ sound to some voters like a message about race, not just religion
President Donald Trump and members of his administration have long used allegations of anti-Christian discrimination as a rallying cry for supporters, arguing that policies and laws on issues like school prayer and LGBTQ+ rights threaten Christians’ right to express their beliefs.
How racism fueled the Eaton Fire’s destruction in Altadena − a scholar explains why discrimination can raise fire risk for Black Californians
The damage from the Eaton Fire wasn’t indiscriminate. The blaze that ravaged the city of Altadena, California, in January 2025, killing 17 people and consuming over 9,000 buildings, destroyed Black Altadenans’ homes in greatest proportion.
New PBS documentary explores White Christianity vs. Black Christianity
The past decade has created a new dialogue on issues of racial reconciliation and the role religion plays in it. From Robert P. Jones’ White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity to Kristin Kobes Du Mez’s…
Dismantling Education Department is straight out of Project 2025
News that President Donald Trump is preparing to sign an executive order dissolving the U.S. Department of Education has riveted attention on Trump’s adherence to Project 2025, a conservative evangelical blueprint for dismantling the federal government. The Wall Street Journal…
Are we a democracy or a republic? Why words matter
“The United States is not a democracy! It’s a republic!” my independent Baptist high school government teacher declared over the sound of gunfire and cannons exploding in the Civil War re-enactment across the street. Almost three decades later, the debate…