In Dearborn, the latest evidence of the new Crusades
Police in tactical gear pushed their way through the crowd of Christian Crusaders in Dearborn, Mich., Tuesday as January 6 insurrectionist Jake Lang and pastor Lorenzo Sewell led the flag-waving, shofar-blowing worship warriors into battle against their Muslim neighbors. Dressed in tactical gear with an American flag on his vest, Lang yelled through a megaphone about […]
How Christian nationalism shows up in patriotic worship services
“What a Sunday!” Houston First Baptist Church’s social media team celebrates on Facebook. “From worship to fellowship, Pocket Constitutions to patriotic tunes, we’re grateful for a church family that gathers with thankful hearts and points people to Jesus. Happy birthday, America!” That was a reference to the megachurch’s July 5 worship services where Senior Pastor Greg […]
What I saw and heard in DC this weekend
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on May 18, 2026. Evangelicals flocked to Washington, D.C., over the weekend to attend the Trump administration’s “Rededicate 250” event on Sunday, which was billed as “rededicating” the country to being “one nation under God.” The night before Trump’s official event — funded by public money — Sean Feucht led […]
Sometimes reading the Bible isn’t as wholesome as it sounds
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on March 26, 2026. In the latest example of a failed Republican candidate for Congress turned worship warrior, Bunni Pounds is heeding the Trump administration’s call to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary by pretending we’re a theocracy. After graduating from Dallas Baptist University with a degree in political […]
Now Christian nationalists claim we’re having a revival
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on October 16, 2025. As the Christian church loses credibility worldwide due to egregious politicking, Christian supremacists across the nation are tripping over themselves with excitement about a more positive story line they see: Revival. Although every other metric shows the church in America in numerical decline, these […]
What is ‘the church’ and what is ‘Communion’?
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on October 6, 2025. Much ink has been spilled over the last decade revealing the ways white evangelical Republicans have descended into the abyss of authoritarianism. But while they claim to be the most committed to Christ and the church, their empathy-starved embrace of empire actually has led […]
Evangelical worship is the sugar that helps the poison of power go down
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on September 25, 2025. In today’s world of white supremacist politics, white evangelical worship is the sugar that helps the poison of power go down. And perhaps no event has put this more clearly on display than the Charlie Kirk memorial service. When many Christians think about Christian […]
10 Bible verses Christian nationalists take out of context to seize power
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on July 20, 2025. Christian nationalists are world-class experts in seizing power by taking Bible verses out of context. Growing up, my independent Baptist high school constantly used Philippians 4:13 as proof we could win the state championship, Jeremiah 29:11 as proof God would let us get married […]
Prestonwood celebrates Trump and Supreme Court in morning worship
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on July 2, 2025. “This is a time for us to celebrate America,” Prestonwood Baptist Church Pastor Jack Graham declared in his all-white suit in a scene reminiscent of a Jesse Gemstone sermon in HBO Max’s The Righteous Gemstones. “Just because you love America doesn’t mean you don’t love […]
Will the SBC keep Lakepointe after kicking out Saddleback?
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on June 6, 2025. Given how often Dallas megachurch pastors have been in the news for abuse scandals or for run-of-the-mill sacralized misogyny over the past year, it’s only fitting that the Southern Baptist Convention would host its 2025 annual meeting in Dallas. When they meet next week, […]
Feeling overwhelmed? Think local, Tyler advises
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on February 18, 2025. It can be overwhelming to consider that there won’t be a presidential election for nearly four years, or even the possibility of winning either the House or Senate away from the control of Christian nationalists for another two years. One recent CNN headline said, “Democrats confront […]
Of worship warfare, theocracy and a weekend with Sean Feucht
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on October 30, 2024. Is the United States on the verge of becoming a theocracy? After covering Sean Feucht’s “Kingdom to the Capitol” event in Raleigh two weeks ago — during which Feucht embraced the term “Christian nationalism” and another pastor admitted, “We deny the right of any other kingdom […]
A tale of two rallies on the same day in North Carolina
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on October 16, 2024. The juxtaposition of experiencing the “Kingdom to the Capitol” tour followed by the “Faith and Democracy” tour in North Carolina on Sunday was a contrast in theology and politics that demonstrates the fracturing of American Christianity unlike any pairing of events in a single […]
Deconstructing God as king
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on August 30, 2024. As Donald Trump criticizes Kamala Harris for supposedly “turning Black,” laughing too expressively or creating AI-generated crowds, his poll numbers are slipping. Therefore, many of his political advisers are urging him to focus on policies. One of the most common statements from conservative pundits […]
How concerned should we be about conspiracy theorists counting our votes?
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on August 11, 2024. Growing up as an independent fundamentalist Baptist, the highlight of each year for our church was the weeklong revival meeting, where we began each night with songs that prepared our hearts for a sermon by a fiery evangelist who then gave an altar call […]
Must our quests for liberty be mutually exclusive?
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on July 16, 2024. There’s a strange tension in the minds of many people between the desires for independence and community. It comes up often in conversations about churches and denominations. A church may want to be independent yet participate in the community of a denomination or family […]
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 […]
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 […]
Conservatives’ agenda for America is starting to read like my Bob Jones University student handbook
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on February 29, 2024. Perusing the news is beginning to feel like reading my Bob Jones University handbook a quarter century ago. Every page unveils another clutching of control that mortifies and confounds until the reader doesn’t know whether to laugh, cry or rage. This isn’t a new […]
Appealing to religious freedom is the way to counter Christian supremacism in America today
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on August 7, 2023. Christian supremacism has gotten completely out of hand in the United States. We’ve seen it in the insurrection warfare of the New Apostolic Reformation, the battle against librarians by the likes of Kirk Cameron, the desire to punish homosexuality by Al Mohler, Dan Patrick’s claims that God wrote the […]
Postcards from Babylon-A Review by Rick Pidcock
This article originally appeared on January 17, 2021 at Patheos. The new Postcards from Babylon documentary comes out on January 21. And I had the opportunity to screen it for a review. But I wanted to share some additional reflections from a section later in the documentary where a number of soldiers begin to process […]