Free Speech, Freedom of Religion, and 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis — On Dec. 5, 2022, the United States Supreme Court heard the case of 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis. If the Court rules in favor of 303 Creative, then one day American Christians may legally refuse service to non-Christians, Christians who belong to other denominations, Christians who live differently, and atheists. …

Historian Jay Green demonstrates the Right’s favorite rhetorical strategies; how can we oppose them? — The “problem” with Kristen Kobes du Mez, Beth Allison Barr, and Jemar Tisby is simple: They’re brilliant historians and authors reshaping American Christians’ understanding of gender, race, and faith. They’re giving Christians the frameworks to recognize and explain their negative experiences with certain expressions of faith. They’re casting a vision…

On theology, doctrine, humility, and love — We can and should evaluate our theology, doctrine, beliefs, and behaviors based on their fruits. If the fruits are rotten, we must be humble and brave enough to change. Jesus taught his disciples: “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious…

Mass shootings won’t slow until we intervene in the rhetoric — The El Paso Walmart shooter targeted Mexican citizens and immigrants. The Tree of Life Synagogue shooter targeted Jews. The Buffalo, NY, shooter targeted Black people. The Pulse Night Club and Club Q shooters targeted LGBTQ people. Each of these shootings — and others — can be traced back to “Us…

I love The Bible Project podcast. Dr. Tim Mackie’s contextual explanation of Scripture deeply informed my faith deconstruction and subsequent reconstruction. They helped teach me how Christians can, and often do, impose their preferred interpretations on the Bible rather than reading it on its own terms. But the harder The…

Scriptural support for an unusual theology — Earlier essays in this series explored the basis for beliefs about the Divine, why “eternal conscious torment” is not Biblical, and why “Annihilation” and “Universalism” actually have more Biblical support than most realize. People steeped in penal substitutionary atonement and eternal conscious torment might suspect “Universalists” stray far from scriptures…

“Universalism” is a heresy to some. But is it also Biblical? — If you don’t believe there’s a hell, then why do you follow Jesus? What about the Bible verses that clearly say some people go to hell? If you don’t think hell exists, then do you think Hitler’s in heaven?! People raised to believe in penal substitutionary atonement and eternal conscious…

Conscious torment that’s not eternal? — What happens to non-Christians when they die? Do they go to a hell of eternal conscious torment (ECT)? The second essay of this series says “No” and points to often-overlooked passages and themes in Scripture that belie the idea of ECT. (Read the first essay in the series here.) Here…

Humanity, of late, inspires existential nihilism — Humanity’s activities over the past few years have inspired some profoundly uninspiring observations, which I shove into the recesses of my mind before they hurtle me into a pitch-black depression. Crypto mining. Non-fungible tokens. Our collective acceptance of inflation, as though money possesses immutable natural laws. The Next Big Tech…