“The next generation of cheer has arrived!” the Minnesota Vikings announced as they revealed their 2025 cheerleading squad. And just like that, MAGA had a meltdown. The video opens with one Vikings cheerleader doing a backflip. Then the camera pans back and…
How Trump’s dehumanizing language promotes white supremacy
“I’m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse,” President Donald Trump declared this week while surrounded by six members of his administration. “This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we’re…
Here’s why authoritarians go after historians and journalists
“Those that don’t know any history think everything is an overreaction right now. Those that do know history think everything is an underreaction right now.” These were the words posted recently on Threads by medical physicist and musician Benito Thompson. To which…
10 Bible verses Christian nationalists take out of context to seize power
Christian nationalists are world-class experts in seizing power by taking Bible verses out of context. Growing up, my independent Baptist high school constantly used Philippians 4:13 as proof we could win the state championship, Jeremiah 29:11 as proof God would…
Prestonwood celebrates Trump and Supreme Court in morning worship
“This is a time for us to celebrate America,” Prestonwood Baptist Church Pastor Jack Graham declared in his all-white suit in a scene reminiscent of a Jesse Gemstone sermon in HBO Max’s The Righteous Gemstones. “Just because you love America…
From Hamilton to subversive justice
When Baptist News Global Executive Director Mark Wingfield asked me five years ago if he could publish my piece comparing King George in Hamilton to Calvinism’s God, I had no idea the opportunities his invitation would bring me. One of my favorite…
Evangelicals are mean to kids, beginning at home
Every Father’s Day weekend, complementarian women post on social media about how thankful they are for their husbands’ loving leadership. Photos of confidently smiling men who think the gospel requires them to be the heads of their households grace our…
Finally, an honest conversation about CCM and Gospel music
One recurring story in recent years has been Christian nationalist worship leaders wielding worship as a weapon for dominating their neighbors rather than as a vehicle for liberating them. The insurrection of January 6 unfolded as New Apostolic Reformation charismatics sang worship…
‘Worship warfare’ event in Seattle was planned to be violent
“TODAY WAS WILD!!! A RIOT BROKE OUT IN SEATTLE!!” Those were the exuberant words of revivalist Ross Johnston celebrating on Instagram in all caps as chaos erupted during a worship protest Saturday in Seattle’s Cal Anderson Park. “NO MORE CUTE…
You won’t believe our story of Medicaid waste, fraud and abuse
Three days before what we thought would be my wife, Ruth Ellen’s, final surgery for stage three breast cancer, my mind was racing as I was trying to finish moving out of our old house while confirming plans for where…
When Romans 1 is your answer to every challenge
Almost every political conversation with white evangelicals today eventually comes down to their fear of saying anything positive about LGBTQ people. If you have empathy, they’ll warn it’s a slippery slope toward affirming LGBTQ people. If you suggest women can…
Trump, Harvard and Bob Jones University: The resurrection of racism
Donald Trump’s threat to revoke the tax-exempt status of Harvard University may be novel, but it is not new. It is, in fact, a resurrection of a previous kind of discrimination. There’s one other time in American history when a…