Of course, evangelicals are complaining about Stranger Things
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on January 5 2025. “Being gay is not a superpower,” one person wrote on social media. Immediately, my heart sank. Although I was still catching up on Stranger Things episodes, my gut told me we were on the precipice of yet another conservative panic attack over the existence of gay […]
Meet the ‘transvestigators’
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on November 20, 2025. Erika Kirk has been no stranger to online scrutiny in the months since her husband, Charlie, was murdered. When she appeared on “The Charlie Kirk Show” just five days after his memorial service, many people were surprised at how bright and bubbly she seemed. […]
When Romans 1 is your answer to every challenge
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on May 7, 2025. Almost every political conversation with white evangelicals today eventually comes down to their fear of saying anything positive about LGBTQ people. If you have empathy, they’ll warn it’s a slippery slope toward affirming LGBTQ people. If you suggest women can preach, they’ll accuse you […]
10 examples of conservative evangelicals turning truth into dangerous lies
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on September 18, 2024. Conservative evangelicals claim to be the arbiters of truth in a post-truth world. But if we take a moment to consider how the last few months have gone, we’ll notice a pattern emerge. Story after story, conservatives are the ones who seem to be […]
Rosaria Butterfield is not a model for becoming un-gay
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on June 4, 2024. Growing up as an independent fundamentalist Baptist, I was taught that loosening any standards meant you were getting on the slippery slope toward becoming gay. If I grew my hair out over my ears, I might eventually reject God and become gay. If I […]
On sitting in the shade of another’s tree
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on February 23, 2024. One of the most notable differences since leaving conservative evangelicalism has been my body’s reaction to justice-themed events on the calendar. If the day or month had something to do with LGBTQ people, my immediate reaction would be one of defiance. These events were […]
Who is Alistair Begg, and why are American fundamentalists so upset with him?
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on February 1, 2024. “I’m not ready to repent over this. I don’t have to,” Alistair Begg boldly declared in a sermon titled “Compassion vs. Condemnation” at the non-denominational Parkside Church in Cleveland last Sunday. The accusations being leveled against Begg are that he has caved to the LGBTQ movement […]
It’s Al Mohler vs. Andy Stanley, part two, with Christianity Today joining the fray
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on October 5, 2023. “Farewell, Andy Stanley.” So seems to be the response from Al Mohler, Christianity Today, and many other evangelicals to Stanley’s defense of North Point Community Church hosting the Unconditional Conference for LGBTQ Christians and their parents. Sam Allberry, writing for Christianity Today, argues Stanley “seriously undermined” a “New Testament sexual ethic.” As […]
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 […]
2023 was the year the evangelical obsession with Pride month turned violent
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on July 13, 2023. I toted my brood of children through Target, as Kevin DeYoung suggested, when suddenly I noticed the display of Pride T-shirts. At first, I thought it was nice that my LGBTQ neighbors would receive kind messages like “Free Mom Hugs” and “You Belong.” It seemed especially […]
How our view of creation and incarnation shape our view of intersex people
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on January 18, 2023. Every disconnection from communal wholeness goes back to a disconnection within the self, which is fundamentally experienced in bodies. So the way Christians talk about Jesus being born as a human body has the potential to shape either wholeness or disconnection from self and […]
Kirk Cameron is promoting his new children’s book by protesting against other children’s books — and CRT and drag queens and librarians
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on December 4, 2023. Actor Kirk Cameron of “Left Behind” fame is cashing in on evangelical fears of LGBTQ people as he wages a war with “woke libraries” in a publicity stunt for his new children’s book. “It’s terrifying to me,” Cameron said regarding children’s books that depict […]
Amy Grant will host a same-sex wedding, Franklin Graham objects, and where does that leave Michael W. Smith?
This article originally appeared on December 20, 2022 at Baptist News Global. Amy Grant is hosting her niece’s same-sex wedding on her farm, and Franklin Graham wants everyone to know he disapproves. Of course, this should come as no surprise to Graham. In a 2013 interview with the LGBTQ news outlet PrideSource, Grant said she knew by the […]
Should adultery and homosexuality be illegal? Mohler weighs in
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on November 8, 2022. “Should adultery be illegal? What about homosexuality?” These were questions posed to Al Mohler from a Christian schoolteacher who passed along ideas from a class discussion with his students. Four days before today’s mid-term elections, Mohler answered these questions in his daily Briefing. Mohler identifies […]
Exiles in Babylon conference gets so much right but can’t apply its logic about race to sexuality
This article originally appeared on April 6, 2022 at Baptist News Global. While many conservative evangelicals focus on fighting culture wars in an attempt to save the United States from progressive ideologies, New York Times bestselling author Preston Sprinkle seems to have accepted that Christians should reimagine their identity as exiles rather than as culture warriors. As host […]
Here’s a better way to talk about Lia Thomas and transgender athletes
This article originally appeared on March 24, 2022 at Baptist News Global. When Lia Thomas touched the wall during the 500-yard freestyle swim and became the first NCAA Division I national champion who self-identifies as a transgender athlete, many people quietly wondered whether her victory was something to celebrate or lament. On one hand, historic victories from underdogs […]
How a student’s fashion design project upset the created order at Bob Jones University
This article originally appeared on January 18, 2022 at Baptist News Global. Let’s call this controversy Wrap-Coat-Gate. Trustees and administrators at Bob Jones University recently grew so alarmed over a wrap coat designed by a student for a class project that they publicly called the student’s work sacrilegious, blasphemous, dishonoring to Jesus, offensive, and egregious. […]
How did an openly queer artist climb to No. 1 on the Christian music charts?
This article originally appeared on September 27, 2021 at Baptist News Global. The openly queer Christian artist Semler was elated to report the breaking news that the parking attendant at a Switchfoot concert supports gay rights. And that wouldn’t be the only surprise of the night. As they drove to their parking space, Semler joked about how huge […]
My journey from being a young-earth Creationist, Dispensationalist Republican to seeing my neighbor as worthy of my vote
This article originally appeared on October 27, 2020 at Baptist News Global. My body was tense as I sat in the white-walled classroom of my Baptist high school in Middle Georgia. With the sounds of pretend canons firing at the Civil War reenactment across the street, I listened to my teacher tell us about how President […]
A Response to Kevin DeYoung’s Culture War Strategy
This article originally appeared on June 20, 2020 on Medium. I’m sound asleep when suddenly I get jolted awake by my screaming four year old son. Bleary eyed, I try to get a grip on my surroundings as I role out of bed, pull up some shorts, and put on a shirt. My four year […]
Mythical Deconstruction
This article originally appeared on February 29, 2020 at Worship Overflow. A pair of YouTubers who I admittedly had never heard of named Rhett and Link recently shared their de-conversion stories. Now, I’ve never watched any of their videos other than the two videos about their personal stories. But with that said, there was much about their stories that […]