Spiritual abuse while protecting a theological and institutional hierarchy is a common story in conservative evangelicalism today. But on Sunday night, the script appeared to flip when news broke that Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment had been…
Why we can’t convince some Christians to love their neighbor
It shouldn’t be this difficult to convince conservative Christians to love their neighbor. But in seemingly every example of someone in power mistreating the marginalized these days, the Religious Right sides with the person in power. The presence those on…
Our debate ultimately is about the dignity and humanity of women
A conservative friend on social media recently admitted that some of the storylines around Donald Trump’s second term have been extreme but concluded this is simply the way the pendulum swings. In one sense, what he said was true. Since…
Why Trump seeks to create a government of one person
“Do you believe I am unwittingly supporting the Antichrist?” Benjamin Cole asked BNG Executive Director Mark Wingfield in perhaps the most contentious episode of BNG’s “Stuck in the Middle with You” podcast to date. In an hour-long conversation on current politics, the…
White evangelical men weaponize the gospel against women because they don’t respect women
“Do men desperately need respect, while women desperately need love?” This was the question posed by Sheila Gregoire on a recent episode of the “Bare Marriage” podcast. “That is the thesis of a lot of bestselling books in evangelicalism like Love and…
When worship becomes an act of cruelty
Why are white evangelicals so conditioned for cruelty? After all, the debacle that was Donald Trump’s first day in office included ending birthright citizenship, erasing transgender and intersex people, threatening to colonize our neighbors, lying about the 2020 election results,…
How I learned to stop obsessing over lust and you can too
This second week of January is likely hard for plenty of evangelical men who made New Year’s resolutions not to lust. I know, because I used to be one of them. Even President Jimmy Carter had to deal with this….
BNG’s top analysis pieces in 2024 looked at megachurch pastors and Project 2025
The most-read Baptist News Global analysis pieces in 2024 were dominated by instances of clergy sexual abuse and the misogyny and hyper-masculinity being preached from megachurch pulpits. Embattled personalities like Mark Driscoll and Matt Chandler were among the leaders whose…
Remember that time the pastor reenacted a scene from Die Hard?
“Christmas at the movies!” the pleasant, feminine voice sings as the smiley-faced popcorn, coffee, candy bar and soda cartoon characters come waltzing into the auditorium before getting interrupted with an explosion, heavy metal music, and a man yelling, “Don’t need…
Notre Dame event models the hospitality needed for national healing
As I walked through the snow toward McKenna Hall at Notre Dame University, I imagined the next 12 hours would include hard truths and valuable insights from professors and pundits about the reelection of Donald Trump and the Republican takeover…
Unsurprisingly, The Gospel Coalition loathes the Wicked movie
One of the most noteworthy theological trends in 21st-century pop Calvinism has been the rehabilitation of the patriarchy. From Josh Howerton to Mark Driscoll to John MacArthur and more, iconic pastors are now routinely given platforms and sympathetic backstories that attempt to complicate categories of good and…
Dispirited Christians must prepare to stand in the gap, historians urge
“We’re obviously in a very different space than we were in the last two times we had this conversation,” Robert P. Jones said to open the third “Faith and Democracy” tour event with historians Diana Butler Bass, Jemar Tisby and…