Jonathan Merritt

The Southern Baptist Convention's (SBC) political spokesperson Richard Land recently incited controversy with comments regarding the Trayvon Martin case. On his March 31 radio show, he called African-American leaders such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton "race mongers" and "racial ambulance chasers" who are politicizing Trayvon's...

Mark Twain once said, "It ain't what you know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so." The great American novelist would have gotten a kick out of a recent blog post by Family Research Council's (FRC) Chris Marlink. 



The...

In 2005, I was elected precinct chairman for the 1st district of Georgia's GOP. I resigned two months later. In less than 60 days, I rushed deep into the bowels of partisan politics where I faced divisiveness, incivility and territorialism. Deciding I could not in good conscience fight for a...

What's in a name? As Shakespeare has it, a rose by any other name smells the same. But in the case of America's largest Protestant denomination, changing the name could change everything.

A week ago, Southern Baptist Convention President Bryant Wright told his organization's executive committee in Nashville that he...

The wordsmithing Brits behind the Oxford Dictionary define "hate" as "hostile actions motivated by intense dislike or prejudice." But words take on new meanings as people speak them, often deriving more from the context of their usage than from their actual definitions.

The word "hate" has become one of...

In 1987, Jim Bakker's sex scandal shocked the evangelical world. The husband of mascara-laden Tammy Faye was a super-televangelist with an average viewership numbering over 12 million and ministry contributions estimated at $1 million per week. Then came a litany of accusations, including the rape of 26-year-old Jessica Hahn and...

In 1965, a thin, soft-spoken man sauntered into Pittsburgh's WQED, the nation's first public television station, to pitch a show targeting young children. The concept was simple enough: convey life lessons to young children with the help of puppets, songs and frank conversations. It doesn't sound like much. That is,...

"Architecture is the alphabet of giants; it is the largest set of symbols ever made to meet the eyes of men. A tower stands up like a sort of simplified statue, of much more than heroic size." --G.K. Chesterton

I've always been fascinated with the gleaming sentinels that comprise America's...

For the most part, I've stopped signing public statements. Perhaps one day I will write about the various reasons I've decided to do this. Occassionally, however, someone drafts a statement that is both timely and reasonable. In these cases, I might make an exception. Today, Evangelicals for Social...

When Sarah Palin's team of marketers ill-advisedly placed a few crosshairs on a map of Democratic districts that included U.S. Congresswoman Gabby Gifford's, they probably hoped to invigorate their base and rally some support. They couldn't have known that within a few months a crazed Jared Loughner would...

Retailers in Texas who celebrate Christmas better shout it from their garland-wrapped rooftops lest they incite the anger of local Christians. Conservative mega-church First Baptist Church in Dallas (FBCD) has just launched a web site with the expressed purpose of keeping Christmas "everywhere." By logging onto www.grinchalert.com, shoppers...

Michael Gerson is something of a political anomaly. On the one hand, Gerson is a conservative Christian who served as George W. Bush's chief speechwriter and senior aide from 2001 to 2006. On the other hand, he is now an op-ed columnist for The Washington Post and has been critical...

One of the foundational questions asked by Christians throughout history has been, "Can people experience life after death?" But with the faith's declining numbers, waning political influence, and marred image among the general public, the question has now been turned back on believers themselves: "Can Christians experience life after the...

Over-sized mansions, super-sized French fries, and sport utility vehicles. These are the marks of contemporary America, and we're proud of them. After all, these are the tangible products of the "American dream," a concept that promotes ingenuity and hard work as the means to financial abundance. We are a people...

By Rev. Joseph E. Lowery and Jonathan Merritt

We don't look alike. We don't talk alike. We don't vote alike. And, separated in age by more than six decades, we certainly don't walk alike! Then why are we joining together now?

Because nuclear weapons are an indiscriminate threat that transcends...

Same-sex marriage is indisputably one of the hottest "culture war issues" of the last two decades. "Culture Wars Go Nuclear," proclaimed Gary Bauer's e-mail newsletter when the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage in 2003.

Of course, it's an especially hot issue among the religious. The Pew...

Over one month ago, the massive BP oil well in the Gulf of Mexico exploded beneath the surface, causing unbelievable damage. The blast killed 11 people, and hundreds of gallons of oil have poured into the ocean at the rate of at least 210,000 gallons per day. Over one month...

Belief in God, eternity, and other basic religious assertions are questions that have dominated public opinion surveys for some time, but there are some who now believe that non-belief may become the new default. According to a recent American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) of more than 54,000 adults, the number...

The following is adapted from Green Like God: Unlocking the Divine Plan for Our Planet .

The area surrounding Raleigh, North Carolina where I lived during seminary is one of the premier regions for factory farming in the United States. For two years, whenever I flew into Raleigh-Durham...

The American people are growing increasingly disillusioned with politics. Broken promises are now accepted as part of the "political process," partisan in-fighting increasingly prohibits legislative progress, and front-page scandals are more likely to induce a yawn than outrage. As a result, the American people are consistently giving Congress some of...