Have evangelical leaders and Catholic bishops made a strategic blunder? When they decided the cultural war battlefield needed to be the Supreme Court, they engaged in a decades-long battle to have the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade. In the…
Critics of Brittney Griner are bad patriots making bad arguments
The New Testament story of Barabbas is the best metaphor I have found for what is unfolding in America after the release of Brittney Griner from a Russian prison. The conservative branch of our fractured country has erupted like coyotes…
This is what happens when race is ‘nothing’
There’s a refrain that dominates conservative rhetoric: “It’s not about race.” From white parents who insist they send their children to private, mostly segregated academies because “I’m only interested in a good education,” to politicians who insist there is only…
A better definition of patriotism
This week, a reader of Baptist News Global wrote to columnist Greg Garrett to refute his excellent column on Brittney Griner. I wrote a similar column back in August. Our points were similar: Why is a Baptist university like Baylor…
We need a Liar, Liar Pants on Fire Index for political advertising
Wednesday, Nov. 9, has been marked on my calendar for six months. When I wake up Wednesday morning the air will be cleaner, the sun will be brighter, the streets will be free of trash and potholes, and television advertising…
When lying becomes a virtue
Is lying wrong? The question would have seemed impossible even 50 years ago. Now, the ninth commandment becomes expendable: “You shall not bear false witness.” If, as philosophers insist, we live in a post-truth age, we also live in the…
The volatile concoction of social justice and sports
Mix sports fans, professional athletes, coaches, politics, race and social justice and you have a volatile concoction. Several years ago, ESPN’s The Undefeated reported on a poll exploring the “racial divide” in the NFL. The poll measured attitudes of fans…
On Marjorie Taylor Greene declaring Raphael Warnock is not a Christian
Marjorie Taylor Greene, having, in my imagination, matriculated at the All-American Nationalist Theological Institute in Dalton, Ga., has set up shop in the halls of Congress to make declarations about people being Christian or not being Christian. Greene, no shrinking…
For evangelical voters, there’s ‘no exception’ except when their candidate needs an exception
National Republicans are standing up to defend Herschel Walker after a bombshell report that the Senate candidate in the hotly contested battleground state of Georgia paid for a woman’s abortion in 2009. Something has radically changed in the value system of…
Letter to the Editor: Don’t be so harsh on white males and end-times believers
Letter to the Editor October 11, 2022 Dear Editor: I read with rising anger the recent opinion piece from Rodney Kennedy, “The two apocalyptic movements threatening America.” Bottom line up front: Kennedy is part of the problem, not part of…
The two apocalyptic movements threatening America
Two apocalyptic movements bracket America’s democratic crisis. One predicts a future chaos; the other airs a past history of grievances. The future and the past impinge upon the present to paralyze the potential for positive action. One looks to the…
Is it possible for a Baptist school to maintain top-tier recognition and still discriminate against gay students?
Although this time it’s Samford University in the news for discrimination against the LGBTQ community, walking the line between religious heritage and academic aspirations is nothing new for faith-based schools. Last year, it was Baylor University making headlines as it…