Recent Articles
They’re Coming
Periodical cicadas, for all their weirdness, are a part of God’s good creation, filling a niche in the larger order.
Good Faith Media Contributing Correspondent Randall Balmer Receives Prestigious Martin E. Marty Award
The American Academy of Religion (AAR) has recognized Dr. Randall Balmer, a Good Faith Media (GFM) Contributing Correspondent, as the 2024 recipient of the prestigious Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion.
Pro-Palestinian Activism Flows from Student’s Judaism: An Interview with Sam Law
These religious traditions are repositories of human wisdom and lessons about how to take care of each other. When these things are intertwined with our struggles for justice, I think they become stronger.
Students at Baylor, Texas A&M, and the University of Texas Join Nationwide Student Protests against Israel’s War in Gaza
Three Central Texas universities offer a microcosm for this moment in time. The University of Texas in Austin (UT), Texas A&M University (A&M) in College Station, and Baylor University in Waco are separated by 100 miles yet connected by a shared athletic past and recognition as among the nation’s elite research institutions.
Many Southern Baptists Hold to Baptist Teachings Rather Than Christian Nationalist Claims
When asked about their views regarding politics, most Southern Baptists are more aligned with Baptist teachings than the claims of Christian nationalists.
Great Replacement Theory: An Obscure Antisemitic Text Descends a New York Escalator
Like many conspiracy theories, the Great Replacement begins with anti-semitism, which has a deep history among people groups who are now considered to be “white.”
Food Insecurity Increases for Second Straight Year
According to a brief recently released by the Urban Institute, food insecurity among adults increased by almost 2% in 2023 from the previous year.
Reflections on a Warm and Inclusive Theological Community
What struck me most about IBTS was the psychological safety it fostered academically. There was a palpable sense of equality, whether you were just beginning your research journey or defending your thesis.
April 30, 2024
Obstacles Remain as Women Seek More Leadership Roles in America’s Black Church; Catholic Movement in Italy Dedicated to People ‘Far from the Church’; ‘Demolishing Democracy’: How Much Danger Does Christian Nationalism Pose? (and more)
The Raceless Gospel as a Proclamation of Somebodiness
“I’ve been called everything but a child of God.” The raceless gospel follows the longstanding Black Church tradition of affirming the personhood of bodies racialized as black and centering the self-determination of persons of African descent in America, despite dehumanizing and oppressive systems.
Transformation or Invasion? The Case of Puerto Rico
Spells are intended to bring to life whatever the sorcerer wants. In Spain, they wanted our gold, and in the U.S., they wanted our labor. In both cases, they wanted a tropical backyard.
Understanding America’s Overlooked Religious Middle
Amid the hyper-polarization plaguing our nation, we should be looking diligently for institutions that hold us together, not just in comfortable agreement but in good faith debates.
April 29, 2024
New Poll Sheds Light on Southern Baptists’ Views on Christian Nationalism; Charlotte Evangelical Pastor in National Spotlight, Called Trump Bible ‘Disgusting’; How One Evangelical Leader Uses the Bible to Expose the ‘False White Gospel’ (and more)
The Tortured Christians Department
Swift is not attacking God, and her music is not sacrilegious. She is simply holding a mirror up to the hypocrites and sanctimonious, holier-than-thou types in the hopes of inspiring some self-reflection.
Maybe Being the Light of the World Means Laughing More
There is something very tender and caring when we, in love, gently laugh at our own humanness.
Pew Survey Finds a Free Press Remains Important to Americans, but Doubts about an Independent Press Persist
According to a recent Pew Research Survey, the First Amendment’s free press guarantee remains extremely important to U.S. citizens.
April 26, 2024
Heard of Zorastrianism? The Ancient Religion Still Have Fervent Followers; Michigan Catholic Bishop Admits ‘Poor Judgment’ in Calling President Biden Stupid; 4 Queer Christians on What Their Religion Means to Them (and more)
Faith and Science 2024
BioLogos’ Faith and Science Conference was challenging and inspiring. Speakers provided bright, thought-provoking evidence that science and faith do not contradict each other. In fact, faith and science complement each other very well.
Black People Are Subjected to More Botched Executions than Any Other Group
A new report by researchers at the nonprofit Reprieve organization determined that Black people endure botched lethal injections at a much higher rate than people of other races or ethnicities.
Tennessee Trusts Teachers with Guns, Not Teaching
Tennessee is where John Scopes was famously found guilty of teaching evolution. The same state has now concluded that teachers who are not trusted to stick to the curriculum should be armed to protect their students from gun violence.
April 25, 2024
The Conservative Who Turned White Anxiety into a Movement; Former Southern Baptist Pastor, Christian Nationalist, Election Denier Leads CO Springs Christian Right Activist Group; Evangelicals with Ties to ‘The Family’ Met Mike Johnson and Zelenskyy Ahead of Ukrainian Vote (and more)
The New Evangelicals: A Conversation with Tim Whitaker
I recently met Whitaker at a coffee shop in Washington, D.C., two blocks north of the White House. We discussed how overthinking is both our superpower and kryptonite, the danger of Mark Driscoll relative to other evangelical personalities, and those front-porch beginnings of The New Evangelicals (TNE).
Watching the Next Biden Administration Unfold Through Palestinian and Haitian Eyes
If elected in 2024, Donald Trump will usher in an era of fascism unlike anything imagined in U.S. history. But we need look no further than Palestine and Haiti to know what to expect if Joe Biden is re-elected.
Effective Altruism and the Fall of Sam Bankman-Fried
It would be foolish to assign the blame for the FTX catastrophe to one or two causes, but one place to start is with Effective Altruism, the core philosophy that Bankman-Fried promoted.
April 24, 2024
Tennessee GOP-Led Senate Spikes Bill Seeking to Ban LGBTQ+ Pride Flags in Schools; Religion Professor: How Religious Freedom Could Help Liberals Win the Abortion Rights War; Florida Joins Texas in Adopting School ‘Chaplain’ Option Denounced by Chaplains; The Most Popular Greek Traditions of Easter and What They Symbolize (and more)
By the Way | The Cross and Red, White and Blue—and Orange
The underlying irony behind all this talk about Christian Nationalism is the fact that faith and religion have flourished in the United States as nowhere else precisely because of the First Amendment.
Baylor University Hosts “Disability & Church: A Conversation”
The Baylor Center for Developmental Disabilities (BCDD) hosted “Disability & Church: A Conversation” on Wednesday, April 17. The event was an initiative of the new Baylor Collaborative on Faith and Disability (BCFD).
Lord, I Want To Be Like Jesus
Instead of fussing with Christianity, we should boil it down to our roots. We need to become Children of God again.
April 23, 2024
US Employers Must Accommodate Abortions, Birth Control Under New Rules; New Hampshire’s GOP is Taking a Stand – Against the Polio Vaccine; In Zimbabwe, Faith Leaders Set Religion Aside to Fight Cholera, Polio (and more)
If the Truth Be Told
I sometimes wonder what foundational lies would come crashing down in our world if the truth be told. If all the dyads got together, black/ white, male/ female, haves/ have nots and the like, and after the oppressed told their story, the response was, “Ain’t that the truth.”