Brittney Griner is a professional basketball player. Her story reads like the all-American girl she is, but now she is in a Russian prison, and her critics are saying she is “unpatriotic,” “un-American,” and not worthy of our mercy and…
U.S. State Department calls out Russia, China, Afghanistan, Myanmar for extreme religious freedom abuses
Its continuing domestic crackdowns on minority religious groups and its invasion of Ukraine have solidified Russia’s status as one of the world’s leading violators of religious freedom, U.S. officials announced this month. “Following its designation as a Country of Particular…
Why American democracy is threatened in Ukraine
American democracy is endangered in the most unlikely of places: Ukraine. Events swirling around the Russian invasion of Ukraine have implications for our own freedom. I have no interest in conjuring the apocalyptic visions of rapture believers, but I do…
Choose Life: Putin reminds us how bad theology can turn nuclear
After a meeting with President Joe Biden in 2021, Vladimir Putin held a press conference in which he answered a question about future relations between Russia and the United States. He cryptically quoted Leo Tolstoy: “There is no happiness in…
Franklin Graham calls for Holy Week cease-fire in Ukraine war but still won’t name Putin as the source of the suffering
Faced with mounting evidence of horrific war crimes committed by Vladimir Putin, a leading American evangelical working in humanitarian relief efforts has yet to call out the Russian president for his brutal assault on Ukraine. Just back from a two-day…
Autocracy as heresy
During the social revolution in South Africa that brought an end to the era of apartheid and a government of white supremacy, Allan Boesak, a Black South African theologian, wrote, “Apartheid is heresy.” And not only that, he later wrote,…
How Putin’s picture in a fictitious dictionary challenges all of us
Do you remember your child’s pictorial dictionary? The very first ones contain images of people, places or things that can be named: girl, father, doctor, astronaut, church, mountain, house, playground, ball, hat, Teddy bear, night light. Picture dictionaries for older…
Three reasons I doubt Russian Christians need more Bonhoeffers
Earlier this month, Christianity Today ran a piece on whether Russian Christians need more Bonhoeffers. By “more Bonhoeffers,” the author apparently meant leaders who would speak up on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Christian leaders from Italy, Switzerland, Serbia, Bosnia and Bulgaria have given…
Will the tragedy of Ukraine wake us up?
If you’re like me, you’ve spent the past month reading articles, listening to podcasts and devouring cable news in a desperate attempt to understand the horrors unfolding in Ukraine. My ignorance remains vast, but I’ve learned a lot about post-Soviet…