I am a southern pastor and an educated professor who lives in rural Arkansas amidst folks who own guns and vote Republican. I hold college degrees, I preach in two churches, and I teach history...
Religious leaders find ourselves in a unique situation in this country today. As people who have been divinely called to preach the gospel, we have to carefully guard our words so that we don’t become...
For years, the religious right has talked about building a "culture of life" in this country--one in which abortion is a thing of the past. We already know how far they're willing to go. By...
More often than not, the Bible is used to condemn LGBT people. Using the Bible to further discrimination is not a new concept. Over the years, the Bible has been used to condone segregation, condone...
John Wesley, founder of the religious movement known as Methodism, was a very spiritual man. He woke every morning at 4am to read from his Bible and pray for three hours. He was well educated,...
Today, on Christmas Eve, as I go about preparing for Candlelight Service tonight, looking forward to a gathering with my family tomorrow, and enjoying quiet time with my son, I can't seem to fight back...
Last week, we covered Sikhism, an Indian religion that focuses on peace. This week, we are covering another Indian religion- Hinduism.
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The Basics.
Just some facts on Hinduism before we delve deeply into this religion.
Hinduism...
Yesterday was National Daughter's Day! I know this because Facebook told me so; well, maybe not Mark Zuckerberg himself, but all my friends on Facebook were posting pictures of their daughters and celebrating National Daughter's...
It's been amply established that the religious right has abdicated any claim to being the self-declared moral guardians of the nation by its continued support of Donald Trump. After all, they are willing to not...
March in Arkansas can go either way: still below freezing and snowing, or already 80 degrees and humid. Driving down the two lane highway on the edge of the Ouachita Forest that March day was...
My granddaughter will be five years old in December. Then in February, my niece will turn five as well. My family had nothing but boys for 15 years, and so the arrival of these two precious...
Donald Trump's approval ratings have ticked up since the State of the Union address. But they're still pretty brutal for a newly-elected president at this stage--an average of 41 percent, according to FiveThirtyEight. And they're...
There is an epidemic of self-righteousness in America today, and it's spreading like wildfire with no end in sight. Every day, no matter if it's local news, cable news, talk radio, or social media you're...
I've been a Christian for a little over three years and I have firsthand experience with the kind of torturous insecurity that develops when one adopts the mindset most Christians have today. Before I became...
By any standard, Donald Trump enters 2018 on very shaky ground. As of Friday night, his average approval rating, as calculated by FiveThirtyEight, stands at 39.1 percent. While his numbers have ticked up slightly since...
It's been clear for some time that the religious right is losing the battle for the young--bigly. A 2014 study by the Brookings Institution revealed that the religious right is speaking mostly to an audience...
Religious freedom is important to me -- as is freedom FROM religion. Separation of church and state is urgent. Why do I think so, as a Christian?
Because I believe differently than many Christians.
Because I don't...
If anything brightened up the weekend of Donald Trump's inauguration, it was the many images we saw from the Women's March on Washington, as well as sister marches around the world. From the planeloads of nasty...
I am a pastor. As a member of the clergy I have a calling to bring love and peace to every situation. My life is dedicated to bringing people to a place of community and...
Since the Paris attacks, all we've heard from the chattering class on the far right is that Islam is a religion of violence which mandates jihad, or holy war. They even say the Koran is...
