Complementarians should learn from moral clarity of Congress
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on July 28, 2026. Congress has a 9% confidence rating among Americans, according to recent data from Gallup. And yet, it’s more ethical than mainstream evangelicalism’s institution of complementarian marriage. Discussion about addressing sexual ethics on Capitol Hill has grown over the past few months following the resignations of […]
There is no safe space in John Piper’s cruel theology
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on June 30, 2026. Jesus orchestrated the brutal murder of your teenage friend and her mom. So says John Piper in a recent “Ask Pastor John” podcast episode titled, “Sovereignty and My Murdered Friend.” The podcast begins by acknowledging it’s a “very heavy episode” before asking people to donate […]
Forget empathy, the new war is on lament
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on February 18, 2026. Ever since Joe Rigney released his book about empathy being a sin, the TheoBros of conservative evangelicalism have been piling into his bus, demonizing empathy for those they run over as “the greatest rhetorical tool of manipulation in the 21st century,” and as “the […]
The TheoBros are getting the war they want in Minnesota
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on January 24, 2026. John Piper’s Minnesota minions are apparently rejoicing in answered prayers tonight as yet another one of their neighbors has been shot dead by ICE. Two weeks ago, Andy Naselli, pastor of Christ the King Church in Stillwater, Minn., and professor of systematic theology and New […]
Let’s talk about how Cities Church treats women
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on January 21, 2026. “David Easterwood is a pastor here. He is also the director of the Field Office for ICE in St. Paul. So someone who claims to worship God, teaching people in this church about God, is out there overseeing ICE agents,” civil rights lawyer Levy […]
Calvinist pastor prays for God to smite the people of Minneapolis
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on January 13, 2026. A professor at John Piper’s Bethlehem Seminary prayed on Sunday not for God to protect the terrified people of Minneapolis, but for God to protect ICE from the violent people of Minneapolis. “I’m a pastor in Minnesota. Here’s how I prayed for ICE yesterday,” […]
Here’s another reason Calvinism is morally bankrupt
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on September 4, 2025. Note: This article includes detailed discussion of child sexual abuse in the context of why God allows suffering in the world. Now the TheoBros are using the gospel to spread indifference about the rape and murder of 10-year-old girls. This week’s example of […]
Zuckerberg’s and Rogan’s masculinity sounds like evangelical complementarians
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on January 16, 2025. “It’s also good to know that you can kill people,” Joe Rogan opined in his podcast interview with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg as the men began to giggle. “There’s a certain confidence from that,” Zuckerberg affirmed. “If you could sell it in a pill, […]
What grief, denial and fear have to do with the evangelical fascination with Trump
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on January 26, 2024. “Whether Trump means it or not is kind of irrelevant because he’s saying the things to people who are hurting,” filmmaker Michael Moore told a gathering of voters in his 2016 documentary TrumpLand. “It’s why every beaten down, nameless, forgotten working stiff who used to be part […]
Pope Francis vs. John Piper: Two views of ‘masculinizing’ the church
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on December 27, 2023. “One of the great sins we have had is ‘masculinizing’ the church,” Pope Francis admitted to the International Theological Commission last month in what could potentially become the most impactful theological repentance of the year. “Women have a capacity for theological reflection that is […]
In dialogue with Doug Wilson and the ‘pop Calvinists,’ at least Wilson is consistent
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on December 14, 2023. Twenty-three years after John Piper called Doug Wilson an “absolute genius at sarcasm and irony,” pop Calvinists are still wringing their hands over how to respond to the conservative Reformed pastor from Moscow, Idaho. “You’re very clever, really clever. And I think we need […]
The Director: A Tale of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
“For example, a housewife in her backyard may be asked by a man how to get to the freeway. At that point she is giving a kind of leadership. She has superior knowledge that the man needs and he submits himself to her guidance. But we all know that there is a way for that […]
What does complementarianism have to do with Domestic Violence Awareness Month?
This article originally appeared on October 6, 2022 at Baptist News Global. “Please don’t tell my husband I said anything. These men think they can bully women into submission.” I hear statements like this from Christian women in complementarian marriages quite often. But while many of these women are aware of the weight they bear, they […]
The Way Down is about the weight of power being wielded by a hierarchical God
This article originally appeared on November 18, 2021 at Baptist News Global. It was an overcast morning near Smyrna, Tenn., as a small Cessna private jet abruptly descended toward the earth. Seven people on board, who had been looking forward to a trip to Palm Beach, Fla., were now taking their final breaths. And as the […]
The five pillars of conservative evangelical Calvinism that are incompatible with love
This article originally appeared on November 12, 2021 at Baptist News Global. The majority of my adult life has been spent within the conservative evangelical Calvinistic world of Desiring God, Grace to You, Ligonier and The Gospel Coalition. Having grown up in the rules-focused world of the independent, fundamental Baptists, these ministries provided a much-needed relief […]
American Christianity in China also imports gender bias and Calvinism
This article originally appeared on April 9, 2021 at Baptist News Global. Imagine if America’s coalition of conspiracy theorist, cowboy Christianity had colonized its way into the world of international politics and sexual abuse cover-ups under the guise of spreading the gospel. Research scholar Mary Li Ma believes this isn’t an imaginary scenario, but a very real one […]
Six ways ‘American Gospel’ is small-minded and abusive
This article originally appeared on August 14, 2020 at Baptist News Global. I grew up so terrified of God’s wrath that I drove through a stoplight while staring at my speedometer, afraid I’d lose my salvation for breaking God’s law in Romans 13 by going 36 mph in a 35-mph zone. When my grandfather died, I […]
How Reading Aristotle Frees Us from John Piper and Albert Mohler’s Complementarianism
This article originally appeared on July 11, 2020 on Medium and was edited on September 6, 2021 to include recent quotes from John Piper. After growing up in the patriarchal world of the Independent Fundamental Baptists where men would sit on couches watching football and waiting to be served their dessert while maintaining absolute control […]
In ‘Hamilton’ King George has Calvin on his side
I watched “Hamilton” last night for the first time. And I was struck by the parallels in King George’s song You’ll Be Back to the Calvinistic view of God. The lyrics say: “The price of my love’s not a price that you’re willing to pay …Now you’re making me mad …And when push comes to shoveI will […]