(OPINION) The deepest conflicts of our time pit groups against each other in what has come to be seen as a zero-sum game. Colleges have become forums where agitators refuse to cogently advocate for their beliefs and to seek to persuade those with whom they disagree and, instead, rouse those occupying their echo chambers to drum for the complete eradication of their ideological opponents.
Read More(OPINION) After his victorious bout in a major combat sports event this past Saturday night, UFC fighter Bassil Hafez said, “There is something I wanna say. I have been having it in my heart for a long time. I don’t support genocide. I don’t support innocent women and children being killed for war and for money and power. We are all God’s children and we all deserve a fair chance in life. Free Palestine.” While Hafez didn’t mention Israel by name, his message was clear. Israel is committing genocide.
Read More(OPINION) In my observation, core spiritual truths are applicable to nearly every arena of life, not just to religion but also to business, education or politics. They’re as beneficial to those who don’t believe in God as to those who go to church three times a week. I think of these as universal laws. They’re woven into the world we inhabit as surely as the law of gravity. One of these universal truths is the principle of balance.
Read MoreJason and Jennifer Carroll pray for Haiti as the poor, developing nation deals with unrelenting gang violence. Two American missionaries and a Haitian national were killed in an ambush last week.
Read More(OPINION) Are you motivated to pray? The word “motivation” doesn’t appear in older dictionaries since it wasn’t coined until the mid-19th century and didn’t come into common use until the 20th century.
Read More(OPINION) What happens with Pentecostalism today affects nearly everybody on Earth, not only spiritually but politically. Scholars and journalists usually point to the landmark 1906 Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles as the birth of Pentecostalism. That revival introduced long-dormant gifts of the Holy Spirit written about in the New Testament — including prophecy, healing and speaking in tongues — to contemporary Christianity.
Read MoreTwenty years ago, I worked as a Dallas-based religion reporter for The Associated Press. Many of the stories that dominated the headlines then remain relevant today.
Read More(OPINION) In October 2007, I delivered a series of lectures on the subject of “Homosexuality, the Church, and Society.” The lectures were held at the Booth Playhouse in the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center in the heart of Charlotte, North Carolina, and they attracted considerable attention from the local media.
Read More(OPINION) Following an outcry that spilled over into the mainstream media (“David French” and “PCA” trended nationally on X for days), a David French panel on “how to be supportive of your pastor and church leaders in a polarized political year” at the PCA General Assembly was canceled. However, that doesn’t mean the story is over, or that it doesn’t have some lessons to teach.
Read More(OPINION) Speaking for God can be a messy business. Very messy. No matter how sincere you are, you might turn out eventually to have been wrong. No matter how many Scriptures you cite to prove your point, those who disagree will trot out contrary passages to demonstrate why you’re tragically misguided — if not heretical.
Read More(OPINION) While a petition calling for the firing of Harrison Butker, one of the greatest placekickers in the NFL, has gained more than 100,000 signatures, sales of his jersey are skyrocketing. Why all the controversy?
Read MoreJelly Roll is on a roll. The “Son of a Sinner” artist — whose songs feature raw, religious lyrics that wrestle with his troubled past — won another big award on Thursday night.
Read More(OPINION) It is important to remember that many of those protesting Israel’s war in Gaza are not simply advocating for a ceasefire or for a two-state solution. They are advocating for the end of Israel. This, of course, is the obvious meaning of the “river to the sea” chant. But what is implied in the chant is now being stated explicitly by anti-Israel protesters and their allies. They, in turn, are simply articulating what has always been the fundamental position of Hamas.
Read More(OPINION) While political pollsters and the national media tend to lump under one banner those dreaded right-leaning “White evangelical or born-again” Christians, that banner actually includes an anomalous set of people with different belief systems and often competing goals.
Read More(OPINION) Israel was chosen because of the sovereignty of God, not because of Israel’s own merit. He set His love on Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and determined to bless the world through their offspring, meaning through the people of Israel and, ultimately, through the seed of Abraham par excellence, Jesus the Messiah. And because He made unconditional promises to the patriarchs, He has kept His word through the generations, preserving the people of Israel, disciplining them, scattering them and regathering them.
Read MoreA new, 400-page biography of 10-time All-Star pitcher Clayton Kershaw delves into his baseball success, his family life and, yes, his faith.
Read More(OPINION) Lately, though, I’ve unaccountably become flappable, prone to crippling attacks of anxiety even when there’s nothing to be anxious about. This is new, disconcerting and mysterious. I’m not under any unusual stress, so I suspect this anxiety must be the result of some chemical shift taking place in my brain as I age.
Read More(OPINION) According to a growing number of Christian conservatives, including Tucker Carlson, Charlie Kirk, and Andrew Torba (CEO of GAB), the new House bill opposing antisemitism actually outlaws quoting parts of the New Testament? Is this true? Kirk, a strong supporter of Israel, asked, “Did the House of Representatives just make parts of the Bible illegal?”
Read More(OPINION) In fact, my strong hunch is that these “under the radar” Christian boarding or reform schools will prove to be the next chapter in the ever-present, still burgeoning clergy abuse crisis. And those of us who’ve long supported such survivors will be called upon again to offer sympathy, consolation and guidance to hundreds of mostly invisible victims who have been violated in circumstances even more extreme than the ones in which we were abused.
Read MoreWhen a monster tornado struck a small Oklahoma town, numerous businesses and houses were destroyed. But a church’s stained-glass windows escaped with just minor damage.
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