Pastor’s wedding night advice to women opens a conversation on harmful evangelical teaching on sex
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on March 29, 2024. On your wedding night, “stand where he tells you to stand, wear what he tells you to wear, and do what he tells you to do.” This is the advice Southern Baptist megachurch pastor Josh Howerton gave the women of his congregation last month at Lakepointe […]
Can’t a solar eclipse just be a solar eclipse?
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on March 27, 2024. With echoes of “You’re so vain; you probably think the Bible’s about you,” today’s conservative American conspiracy theorists are raising money for Christian broadcasters by claiming the upcoming solar eclipse is a prophetic word from God revealed in the stars and in the Scriptures […]
Presentation on Authoritarian Christianity
I did a 45 minute presentation for Secular Arizona last Friday about how ancient empire hierarchies that the Bible was written in are being applied through authoritarian Christianity and Christian nationalism today. And then we did a 15 minute Q&A. Unfortunately, I forgot to put my presentation in presentation mode. So the slides are a […]
How evangelical and Mormon deconstruction is playing out on TikTok and YouTube
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on March 20, 2024. Mainline and evangelical churches aren’t the only religious communities losing members these days. According to a new study published in the Journal of Religion and Demography, Mormonism is no longer followed by the majority of residents in Utah. Ryan Cragun, a professor of sociology at the University […]
No, the U.S. Constitution is not based on the book of Deuteronomy
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on March 11, 2024. In addition to calling for a Coca Cola-sponsored decapitation of Donald Trump’s political opponents to be broadcast live for children to watch, Turning Point USA CEO Charlie Kirk is making headlines again, this time claiming the United States government was formed based on the book of […]
If you want to post the Ten Commandments in schools, you ought to learn more about them
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on March 6, 2024. In the latest “Law and Order” episode of the GOP’s march toward theocracy, the Arizona Senate passed Senate Bill 1151, which would allow the Ten Commandments to be displayed and read in public schools. “The progressive slide down in our country right now is […]