Conservative evangelicals claim to be the arbiters of truth in a post-truth world. But if we take a moment to consider how the last few months have gone, we’ll notice a pattern emerge. Story after story, conservatives are the ones…
Of gay penguins, the Grand Canyon, the Ark and the Scopes trial
As the 100-year anniversary of the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial approaches, the scientific community has had an entire century to explore our world and then sharpen and share their discoveries through peer review. But young earth creationists are still stuck…
Deconstructing God as king
As Donald Trump criticizes Kamala Harris for supposedly “turning Black,” laughing too expressively or creating AI-generated crowds, his poll numbers are slipping. Therefore, many of his political advisers are urging him to focus on policies. One of the most common…
How concerned should we be about conspiracy theorists counting our votes?
Growing up as an independent fundamentalist Baptist, the highlight of each year for our church was the weeklong revival meeting, where we began each night with songs that prepared our hearts for a sermon by a fiery evangelist who then…
What JD Vance and Harrison Butker have in common
The most disturbing truth we’re learning this week about Republican Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance isn’t his demonization of the poor in Appalachia, his words about staying in abusive marriages for the sake of the kids, his claim that becoming pregnant through rape is an…
Must our quests for liberty be mutually exclusive?
There’s a strange tension in the minds of many people between the desires for independence and community. It comes up often in conversations about churches and denominations. A church may want to be independent yet participate in the community of…
Don’t blame ‘the media’ for reporting your own violent language
Boston Globe reporter James Pindell stood in front of the press riser in the 91-degree heat as the gun smoke settled and Donald Trump rose up with blood running down his cheek, pumped his fist, and yelled, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”…
What’s happening to megachurch pastors in Dallas?
Megachurch pastors in Dallas are starting to drop like flies. On June 9, Tony Evans stepped away for an unspecified period of time from the 10,000-member Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, a church he started in his living room and led for…
Watching SBC men posture for position is exhausting
It’s exhausting to the soul. That’s what I’m feeling as I consider all the possible stories I could write regarding what white conservative men have planned for this year’s Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Indianapolis. Capturing most headlines is…