4 lessons we learned from Cornel West and Robert George
Recently, the two of us had the privilege to attend an event hosted by the Trinity Forum featuring a fascinating conversation between Cornel West and Robert George. The theme of the evening was “Deep...
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A look at the history of the evangelical movement
In 2016, as in every presidential election year, there was no shortage of writing and descriptions of evangelicalism—from exit polls about the infamous 81% of white evangelicals who voted for then...
View ArticleWhat Holy Week reminds us of in the midst of a pandemic
I wouldn’t have realized the next morning was Sunday if my wife and I hadn’t talked about it the night before. I didn’t even realize that it was Palm Sunday until I looked at Twitter after I woke up....
View ArticleIs India’s new citizenship law friendly toward religious liberty?
India’s capital of New Delhi and regions throughout the country were rocked in recent months by religious violence and rioting. The rioting left over 40 people dead with property damage and devastation...
View Article5 mothers who helped shape Christian history
There is no overstating the importance of mothers in the growth of Christianity. From the devotion of Mary to the faithful example of Lois and Eunice (the mother and grandmother of Timothy), the pages...
View ArticleWhat a Virginia cemetery case reveals about religious liberty
The Christian faith has always recognized the importance of the ritual of burial. From a story that begins in a borrowed tomb for a man too poor to buy his own, includes the cemeteries which dot the...
View ArticleLearn more about America’s founding from these resources
On July 3, 1776, John Adams wrote to his wife to say that he thought July 2 would go down as the most “memorable epoch in the history of America.” This was the day that the Second Continental Congress...
View ArticleExplainer: The significance of The Scopes Monkey Trial
July 21 marks the anniversary of the verdict in one of the most important court cases in American religious history: The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes, or as it is commonly known, “The...
View ArticleWhy God’s Word is better than fiction when combatting sin
It is a strange time when you are able to reference Lord of the Rings and prophetic signs (a symbolic demonstration meant to release the power of God in the Word of Faith tradition) in the same...
View ArticleExplainer: IVG is the newest technological threat to the family structure
Growing up, I was often surprised that other people did not have as many grandparents as I did. While everyone I knew had four, I had more than double that at nine total. This is because my father and...
View ArticleExplainer: Report of the Human Fetal Tissue Research Ethics Advisory Board
Recently, the Human Fetal Tissue Ethics Advisory Board released its recommendations for funding based on proposals submitted to the National Institute of Health. This board, tasked with the oversight...
View Article3 ways to serve your teacher during the pandemic
The last few weeks have seen the reopening of school districts across the country. Teachers are adapting to the current pandemic in a number of ways with some teaching in person, others online, and...
View ArticleWhy education should encourage humility and worship, not pride and disdain
Graduate students are like Gollum from The Lord of the Rings. That was the claim made by one of my literature professors. What does a graduate student in engineering or a person studying law or...
View ArticleThe courage of Ruby Bridges and her family
In 1964, painter Norman Rockwell was given his first assignment for Look magazine. The assignment, itself a result of the 10-year anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision which...
View ArticleFeasting with the dead for the sake of the living
If you are like me, you are probably tired of hearing people use the phrase “These are unprecedented times, but we are going to get through it, somehow.” From zoom meetings to social media posts and...
View ArticleThe dynamic role the Black church has played in American history
The church is central to the story of black history in the United States. In Reading While Black, Dr. Esau McCaulley unpacks the many ways Scripture has been a resource for hope, perseverance, and...
View ArticleWhat should we know about the “nones” of religion?
The odds are increasing that you know someone (if not multiple people) who identifies as part of the “nones” of religion, whether that is someone who identifies as an atheist, agnostic, or nothing in...
View ArticleHow can we understand trends of declining church membership?
America is no longer a Christian nation if one goes by the official membership rolls of churches. According to a recent study by Gallup, church membership dropped below 50% for the first time in their...
View ArticleWhy reading classics can help us answer age-old questions
Italian journalist and novelist Italo Calvino once said, “A classic is a book that never finishes saying what it has to say.” Even those who don’t enjoy Greek literature can understand Odysseus’...
View ArticleThe History of the Pro-life Movement
In August of 2017, Iceland made headlines because children born with Down syndrome were on the decline. However, this was not the result of medical advances or treatments for the genetic condition....
View ArticleWhat modern Baptists can learn from Thomas Helwys
Baptists have been committed to religious liberty since their earliest days. This was both a pragmatic and theological position. As Dissenters from the Church of England and its state religion, they...
View ArticleHow fertility rates and religious adherence are connected
There has been much written lately about the declining rates of childbearing. Some argue that it is a good choice in light of economic and climate concerns, while others worry about the fact that men...
View ArticleWhy addressing poverty is an anti-abortion measure
This fall, the Supreme Court will take up a court case that could pose a threat to Roe and Casey precedents which protect the right to an abortion. If Dobbs — the case out of Mississippi — does what...
View ArticleUnderstanding the Christian Reconstructionist movement
What is the relationship of Old Testament laws to the American government? How ought Christians respond to the decline of cultural influence? What are the ways that Christians exercise power within...
View ArticleWhat will happen at the state level if Roe is overturned?
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The case centers on an abortion restriction passed within the state of Mississippi that...
View ArticleUnderstanding fundamentalism within the African American community
According to historian George Marsden, “a fundamentalist is an evangelical who is angry about something.” Figures such as Bob Jones, J. Frank Norris, and Aimee Semple McPherson all fit within this...
View ArticleHow to be a better patriot
Before looking at affection, friendship, and erotic love in his classic study The Four Loves, C. S. Lewis begins by examining our love for the sub-human. And one of these is love of country. “We all...
View Article“The Politics of the Cross” by Daniel Williams
There is no question that American politics is fraught with unhealthy tension. In Daniel Williams’ The Politics of the Cross, he offers a vision that goes beyond partisanship and instead asks...
View ArticleWhen genetic testing goes wrong
I started making dad jokes at the first doctor’s appointment for our baby in the womb. My wife’s doctor asked, “What are we hoping for?” My wife groaned when I responded, “A baby would be great, but...
View ArticleWhy should Christians care about the environment?
In 2021, leaders from around the world gathered in Glasgow, Scotland, to discuss ways that countries can help to prevent some of the more catastrophic predictions related to climate change. The...
View ArticleHow should Christians talk about racism?
In a moment of politicization and tribalism, conversations are always difficult. There are any number of topics today that cause controversy: who to vote (or not) for in the next election, responding...
View Article3 influential women of the civil rights movement
Many who think of the civil rights movement often picture it through the lens of its great male leaders. Martin Luther King Jr sharing powerfully about his dream for America. John Lewis of the Student...
View ArticleHow do our limits reflect God’s design?
We live in an age that values productivity. There is an entire cottage industry of books and resources to help us manage our time, organize our lives, and squeeze every last second out of the day. As...
View ArticleWhat can we learn from John Leland’s life?
When describing the relationship between the church and state, I often turn to the great language of John Leland: “Government has no more to do with the religious opinions of men, than it has to do...
View ArticleWhat Christians should know about cross-cultural adoption
Adoption is a beautiful picture of the gospel, but in this world, it’s fraught with a mixture of grief and gladness. In addition, particular joys and challenges can enter the picture when a family...
View ArticleHow Do We Enter a Secular Public Square?
In 2021, the share of adults who belonged to a church, synagogue, or mosque dropped below 50% for the first time in recent history.1 Those who would formally identify with a religion were no longer...
View ArticleHow to help your family approach the topic of race
There are few issues more difficult to discuss in recent years than those related to race and justice. For families especially, it can be difficult to know what is appropriate to mention to children...
View ArticleWhat a rise in vasectomies reveals about our culture’s attitude toward children
We’re beginning to see the refugees of the sexual revolution, yet some don’t even know they’ve been harmed. For 50 years, women have been told that they have ultimate control over their bodies and can...
View ArticleWhy we can’t look away from global hunger
In 1993, a photojournalist took a photo that has become iconic and controversial. Titled “The vulture and the little girl,” it shows a young, starving, small girl being stalked by a vulture preparing...
View ArticleHow technology contributes to a pornified culture
Pornography is unrealistic. It’s a statement many might view as common because it’s been said so frequently. But the raw data on pornography use in the United States reveals new ways that this is...
View ArticleThe duty and courage of Queen Elizabeth II
One of the things I remember most from my summer in England was the excitement when, while touring Windsor Castle, we were informed by a raised flag that the Queen had come to visit. I wouldn’t get to...
View ArticleEducation is not neutral
A charge against the medieval scholastics was that they were concerned with useless topics like “How many angels can dance on the head of the pin?” (even if this was never a real topic of study). The...
View ArticleWhat our faith says about caring for immigrants and refugees
The theme of care for immigrants and sojourners is one of Scripture’s repeated commands for the people of God. From God’s reminder to the people of Israel to care for the sojourner for they were once...
View ArticleExplainer: A history of the ERLC
May 8, 2020, marks one of the anniversaries of the founding of what would become the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (more on those others below). The ERLC is the Southern Baptist entity tasked...
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From Prohibition to Social Concerns
Dating the origins of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) is a fraught task. If you limit yourself to the name ERLC, then you would go back to 1997 under the presidency of Richard...
View ArticleWhat does the Bible teach about gender and sexuality?
Welcome to the all-new ERLC Podcast! In this first series of our new format, we will explore the issues of gender and sexuality and discover what the Bible teaches us about these controversial, but...
View ArticleSociety’s spiraling sexual crisis
A few weeks ago, we learned that Genesis 1 teaches God created us male and female in his image. Because we’re created, God gets to set the boundaries for our lives. But, the fall and our sin nature...
View ArticleWhy the Roman Catholic Church now allows priests to bless same-sex couples
The end of 2023 has seen the largest Christian denominations in American struggling in the face of doctrinal shifts on sexuality. The UMC has lost one-fourth of its churches because of a refusal to...
View ArticleNavigating Pronouns in the Real World
When I attended orientation for my graduate degree, I expected and received information about my courses, my advisor, and my classmates. I was also given materials about campus and my new city. One...
View ArticleA Practical Guide for Answering Gender Confusion
“God’s Good Design: A Practical Guide for Answering Gender Confusion” is a resource for pastors and church leaders that includes a theological framework and practical scenarios that will start (or...
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