In an excellent Nov. 13 Washington Post column about how white evangelicals have whored themselves to support the most immoral president of our lifetime, Michael Gerson hit upon a word that jumped off the screen at me: “transactional.” He wrote:…
Faith leaders make a case for Trump to the delight of some and dismay of others
“I’m done with Michael W. Smith.” That sentiment has been expressed widely this week on social media by Christians who have loved the veteran Christian singer-songwriter’s music but now find themselves disaffected by his apparent politics. For public figures —…
BNG webinar to feature Mark Galli, former editor of Christianity Today
Mark Galli, former editor in chief of Christianity Today, will be the next speaker in BNG’s webinar series, “Conversations That Matter.” The first webinar, offered Sept. 14, featured a panel of mental health experts talking about how to maintain good…
Pivotal religious freedom case scheduled for day after election
As if a high-stakes presidential election isn’t enough for the first week of November, the U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 4 will take up a case that goes to the heart of the culture wars fought by the Religious Right…
There are two Americas, and they are not on speaking terms
Sioux City, like most towns in the rural Midwest, went heavily for Trump in 2016. It was there that the Republican candidate claimed he could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue without losing votes. Many of the Sioux Center residents interviewed…
The Supreme Court term: Something for everyone to love and hate
The Supreme Court’s major rulings this June and early July may collectively be remembered as one of the most constructive political developments of this momentous and terrible year. The court’s decisions this term gave important wins and losses to both…
Who’s more cynically using religion: Trump or his Religious Right boosters?
The Religious Right’s mixed reaction to last week’s highly staged Rose Garden signing of an executive order on religious liberty might be a useful gauge of leaders’ level of cynicism—or their willingness to play along with Trump’s own cynical use…
Russell Moore: Religious Right must change or die
If the Religious Right is to survive, it must embrace a “gospel-centered” evangelicalism that articulates why and how Christianity matters rather than using religion as a means toward a political end, the Southern Baptist Convention’s top spokesman for public policy…
‘Locker room banter’: Nightmare for the Religious Right
“You can’t endorse me … but I endorse you and what you are doing.” That memorable phrase, delivered by presidential candidate Ronald Reagan at the Religious Roundtable National Affairs Briefing in Dallas in August 1980, highlighted the public beginnings of…