Everyone is talking about Critical Race Theory. Never mind that most of us hadn’t even heard about it till, like, last week. Folks are talking and pontificating and bloviating about this complex subject as though they’ve been experts all their lives. White evangelical leaders, in fact, are stumbling over themselves to denounce it. Consider this: • The Southern Baptist Convention teed up CRT as a subject of debate during this week’s annual meeting, and some white pastors made plans to assail it, going so far as to rally under a pirate banner with the slogan “Take the Ship!” (I couldn’t
Starting in December, the Lord repeatedly brought me to a passage in Ezekiel 9. The prophet was recounting a vision from God in which he was carried in the Spirit to Jerusalem. Here in the holy city, Ezekiel witnessed something that would have horrified any devout Jew of his time: The glory of God lifted from the Temple and paused at its threshold. Then poof—it was gone. Before the glory departed entirely, however, the prophet saw a “man clothed in linen” holding a writing kit. The Lord commanded this man to “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a
The Black South African singer possessed a rich, nuanced voice. Mature in her faith and gracious in manner, she repeatedly yielded the mic to the white South African woman with a thin, average-quality voice who kept asserting a front-and-center role during worship. I watched this dynamic unfold at a small, interracial Christian healing service in Johannesburg, South Africa, several years ago, growing increasingly frustrated. The Black singer was a recording artist with a powerful presence, and she could have blown the white woman off the stage. Yet she honored the sacredness of the moment by refusing to engage in a
Let the ballot counters do their job. It’s been a comfort to see images of these ordinary people of all ages and colors doing their painstaking work. They are the nuts and bolts of democracy, and I believe in them. To do otherwise would be to give up on America altogether. That’s why I’ll offer no view of who’s going to win the presidential election. I’m much more concerned about the divisions it’s laid bare—and how the Church is no better and possibly worse, reflecting the exact same polarities of race, geography, and socioeconomic status. Let’s take a look at
No need to brace yourself: I’m not going to tell you how to vote. But you need to be aware of the price of your support for Donald Trump. The costs have been piling up for the last four years, and it doesn’t seem that President Trump’s Christian supporters are in the right places to see it. By the way, I find no need to write a post about the cost of supporting Joe Biden, because Christian media are all over that one. So let’s add up the spiritual and human costs of your support for Trump: 1. It’s a