At this VBS, a skit simulates a violent execution
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on June 30, 2026. “Take him out! Blow him up! Take him out! Blow him up!” the children chant during a vacation Bible school program at Mt. Olivet Baptist Church in Lexington, Ky. With eerie music looming over the scene, the viral TikTok video shows an armed soldier […]
Amid concerns about video game-inspired violence, a ‘Christian’ game slays ungodly enemies
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on April 26, 2024. Twenty-five years ago, I sat in my living room as a junior in high school watching the Columbine shooting unfold. Seeing students my age filing out of the school, I had no idea how that moment would impact me or shape the narrative about […]
‘The moment we allow our hearts to go numb to the deaths of any children is the moment we shut down our humanity’
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on October 17, 2023. As someone whose ancestors immigrated to the United States from Lebanon, the faces of children suffering in the war in Israel remind me of my own children. The limp body of a 5-year-old girl being carried through the rubble, and the bare, bloody shoulders […]
How could God command the violent murder and plundering of Israel’s neighbors?
This article originally appeared on June 26, 2021 at Medium. For one of my seminary classes, we had to write a pastoral letter to someone about the commands in the Hebrew Bible for Israel to kill their neighbors. We were given a number of academic resources that we were to interact with to explore how […]
Interview: “The Bible Says What!? Episode 91: :The Invisible Forward Moving Power with Rick Pidcock”
“The Bible Says What!? is an atheist vs. Christian style podcast that captures my one on one conversations with religious leaders from across the globe.”