The Houston Chronicle’s “Abuse of Faith” newspaper series about sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention likely would not have been possible without an earlier expose of the Roman Catholic Church published by the Boston Globe, that paper’s former editor…
‘In a pluralistic democracy’: An interview with Jennifer Rubin
For years, Jennifer Rubin, conservative columnist for the Washington Post, and I didn’t see eye to eye on many issues. An ardent champion of the traditional Republican Party, she advocated for candidate Lindsey Graham in 2015 (“If being right is…
Leaving Afghanistan was the right thing done the wrong way, Americans say in two polls
Doing the right thing the wrong way seems to summarize how Americans feel about the United States’ exit from its 20-year occupation of Afghanistan. Two national polls, conducted about a week apart, show growing confidence among Americans that leaving Afghanistan…
Religion Notes: Spelling bee champ clinches with word most evangelicals already know
Koinonia, one of the most popular Greek words in the English-speaking evangelical world, made a splashy return to the limelight during the 2018 Scripps National Spelling Bee.
If ‘The Post’ was a church, I would join
Churches should see themselves in this movie. The church, like the board of the Post, is tempted to focus on survival. When well-meaning, frightened Christians worry only about the budget, the church ceases to be the church. Institutional Christianity, like a bad newspaper, is organized, conventional and uninteresting.
Angry that the religious right has hijacked the word ‘evangelical’? Let it go, experts say
Thinking of ditching the term “evangelical” to identify yourself as Christian? Get in line. Clergy, scholars, congregational coaches and innumerable laypeople are expressing increasing anger and disgust that the once respected term no longer describes their commitment to Christ and church.
A not-so-hot reaction to Trump’s promise to fuse church and politics
Donald Trump has vowed to “destroy” federal rules prohibiting religious groups from engaging in partisan politics. Politically conservative Christians may favor the idea of church and state being connected at the hip. They may perceive it as translating into more…
Opponents of new D.C. assisted death law vow appeal to Congress
Washington D.C. has become the sixth jurisdiction in the U.S. to approve so-called death-with-dignity legislation – but opponents vow to keep fighting against it. “We believe in life until natural death and that there is a racist component to it,”…
Marching to the voting booth
The book of Ecclesiastes tells us there is nothing new under the sun. Well, I say Ecclesiastes was wrong. Recently, I heard about a notion that is not only new under our sun, but frankly, new under any star or…