On August 11, an evangelical crusade took place in Portland, Oregon—and it reveals some breathtaking arrogance on the part of its creators. It attracted decent numbers who came to hear preachers lament how much “darkness” the city contained and how sad its creators were that the city’s residents had “pushed Read more
On July 31, Brent Leatherwood resigned his position as the leader of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). He lasted about four years in all, which is pretty good for an SBC leader with as many hardliner enemies as he had. And oh Read more
In recent years, more Christians are facing doubt than ever before. But their communities and leaders still haven’t learned how to respond to it. They’re still largely using the same toolbox they had in decades past. Let’s explore that toolbox—and see where it fails to fit into real-world doubters’ experiences. Read more
Within the serried ranks of nepo babies, Franklin Graham reigns supreme. Out of all of them, he might be the best known and most successful. He’s parlayed his daddy’s evangelism empire into a generational dynasty by playing upon his audience’s biggest fears. But that audience has aged, and he along Read more
In recent news, the American Bible Society (ABS) released its “State of the Bible” report, which gauges how relevant Christianity is to Americans. ABS tries to paint a rosy picture of recovery from decline, but their data actually points in the opposite direction. This report is a bombshell, revealing a Read more
For years now, I’ve suspected that Catholic evangelists have been focused on hardline evangelicals. Recently, some hardline evangelicals began noticing that too. Today, let’s explore how Catholics are targeting this mission field—and more importantly, why. (This post first went live on Patreon on 3/28/2025. Its audio ‘cast lives there too 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
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
You’d think that evangelicals would have learned a decade ago just what awful optics it is for anyone to vociferously defend slavery. BUT NO. Here we are yet again, staring down at the abyss of atrocity apologetics. In recent months, I’ve seen a serious uptick in hardline evangelicals defending what Read more
Over the years, I’ve heard many, many accusations about the causes of my deconversion. It could practically be a religious genre by now: Cold-reading attempts to guess strangers’ motivations regarding religious choices. But only one thing actually caused my deconversion. Strangely, Christians never light upon that one. Today, I’ll share Read more