When it comes to its own decline, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) might be its own worst enemy. A throwaway comment on a recent post of theirs reveals exactly why it’s so hard to evaluate that decline, much less diagnose its cause, much less reverse it. Since their entire image Read more
In all of Christianity, perhaps one of the funniest sights you’ll ever encounter is Christians accusing other Christians of following a counterfeit Jesus. It’s downright comical. But in its way, this much-beloved, near-eternal argument just marks one of Christianity’s biggest problems: There really is no objective way to establish which Read more
Last year, we briefly touched on the concept of ‘negative world’ in Christianity. It’s the idea that modern American/Western society now feels hostile toward Christianity rather than neutral or even positive toward it. Of late, though, the concept has gotten attention from some secular news outlets. So today, let’s explore Read more
One of my very favorite Christian pretendy games is spiritual warfare. For years now, we’ve marveled at just how important this game is to right-wing Christians. The more loudmouthed the Christians, the more control-hungry, the more they love spiritual warfare! There’s a reason for this love, of course. Today, let’s Read more
Accounts differ somewhat regarding exactly what happened with Pope Francis this past month, but everyone close to the situation agrees that he was very sick and is still recovering. He seems to have stabilized somewhat at this point, but his courtiers are still all aflutter. Speculations abound about what’ll happen Read more
Next week, Matt Queen finds out what his penalty will be for lying to federal investigators about a sex assault cover-up at a Southern Baptist seminary. Through his lawyer, Queen is trying to make himself seem like a TRUE CHRISTIAN™. Yes, he just made a little bitty oopsie-doodle-boodle! He was Read more
One of the earliest known human sites speaks to the power of ritual. Today, let me show you how our ancestors related to ritual, how they used it, what it did for our entire species, and why ritual practices certainly change a lot over time, but they still matter today. Read more
As I researched the Anglican Church’s ongoing sex abuse crisis, a secondary story about organizational power emerged. It illustrates the gulf between an organization’s leaders and its followers—and how those leaders must be much more careful than they think about how their behavior comes off to followers. This story pairs Read more
Recently, we discussed an ongoing scandal within the UK’s Anglican Church (also called the Church of England). Its highest-ranking clergyman, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, had to resign after everyone discovered he’d egregiously mishandled sex abuse complaints and shielded a particularly-serious abuser from consequences for years. His last day Read more
Trevin Wax is one of the hardline evangelical Calvinist lads over at The Gospel Coalition (TGC). We’ve discussed his work more than a few times. He aims his message at evangelicals who might be fixin’ to deconstruct their faith. Since there appear to be a lot of deconstructing evangelicals out Read more