CHRISTIANITY IN AMERICA

RELIGION
Maintining My Own Moral Purity at Your Expense: State RFRA Laws and the Return of Pharisaism
By Derek Penwell, Contributor
Author, Editor, Speaker, Activist
I can hear Jesus say, "Seriously? You would begrudge LGBTQ people restoration to a flourishing life in the community, just to retain your own sense of personal rectitude?
RELIGION
When Did We Get to Be Better than God?
By Derek Penwell, Contributor
Author, Editor, Speaker, Activist
God loves Muslims as much as Christians, LGBTQ people as much as straight folks, immigrants and refugees as much as US citizens, poor people as much as the rich. We should be exceedingly suspicious of any God who is more intellectually rigid than we are, who disapproves of all the same people we disapprove of.
RELIGION
Franklin Graham Is the Worst Thing to Happen to God (and America) in a While
By Derek Penwell, Contributor
Author, Editor, Speaker, Activist
Not only is Franklin Graham's penurious score-keeping of who's in and who's out a distortion of Christianity, it's a bastardization of what it means to be American.
RELIGION
Jerry Falwell Jr. Is Now the Worst Thing to Happen to God in a While
By Derek Penwell, Contributor
Author, Editor, Speaker, Activist
Jesus was a young man with questionable religious ties, violently killed in the name of protecting the state against radical revolutionaries.
RELIGION
Why Caring for Syrian Refugees Isn't Optional for Christians
By Derek Penwell, Contributor
Author, Editor, Speaker, Activist
No matter your religious credentials, the test of your faith is not your doctrinal purity, but how you treat others -- especially those who are most vulnerable.
RELIGION
What Kind of World Would It Be If the Rich Admitted They Need the Poor?
By Derek Penwell, Contributor
Author, Editor, Speaker, Activist
I'm dealing with Jesus right now, and I'm having a difficult time manipulating his words so that they come out approving of any policy enacted by the powerful that says to the powerless.
QUEER VOICES
An Open Letter to Al Mohler on Taking a Transparently Meaningless Stand on Reparative Therapy
By Derek Penwell, Contributor
Author, Editor, Speaker, Activist
The whole thing gets a little muddy after you denounce "secular reparative therapy" and start laying out the alternative.
Religion News Service photo by Adelle M. Banks
RELIGION
Why Do Black Churches Have Steady Membership While Other Christian Denominations Decline?
By Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service
“I think black churches do a whole lot more than religion.”
RELIGION
5 Reasons Franklin Graham Is Once Again the Worst Thing to Happen to God in a While
By Derek Penwell, Contributor
Author, Editor, Speaker, Activist
Here's the thing, Franklin Graham isn't the voice of Christianity, let alone a stand in for the voice of God. In fact, much of the rest of Christianity has to work overtime because Franklin Graham invests so much energy saying things that make the rest of us who take God seriously shake our heads; which is why Franklin Graham is once again the worst thing to happen to God in a while
RELIGION
The Charleston Tragedy: A Conversation on Faith and Forgiveness
By Katharine Rose, Contributor
Creator and writer for allthingsgood.co
The ability of the Charlestonians and the affected family members to so readily forgive their perpetrator is not an indication of an apathetic people, nor does it signal the ease with which one is able to forgive. Rather, it is a manifestation of how strong their faith really is.
RELIGION
"I Love the Sinner" Is Often What Abusers Say
By Derek Penwell, Contributor
Author, Editor, Speaker, Activist
Participating in a system that belittles, punishes and commits violence against those who are often in the weakest position to defend themselves, frames you as an abuser in the eyes of those whom you claim only to be trying to love.
RELIGION
Americans Are Less Confident In Organized Religion Than Ever Before: Gallup Survey
By Religion News Service, Religion News Service
(RNS) Americans have less confidence in organized religion today than ever measured before — a sign that the church could
RELIGION
We've Been Talking About God All Wrong: All Together Podcast With Diana Butler Bass
By Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, Contributor
Founding Executive Editor, HuffPost Religion, Senior VP, Auburn
The religious news is a wake up call -- but not to a retrenchment of past practices; but a radical reassessment of the way we talk about God.
RELIGION
Note to Franklin Graham: Having to Live with Muslims and LGBT People Isn't Persecution
By Derek Penwell, Contributor
Author, Editor, Speaker, Activist
Having to live as neighbors with people you don't approve of isn't a form of persecution against Christians. According to Jesus, it's the very focus of Christian life.
RELIGION
Franklin Graham Is Still the Worst Thing to Happen to God in a While
By Derek Penwell, Contributor
Author, Editor, Speaker, Activist
Inasmuch as President Obama has been more than clear about his Christian commitments, continuing to question his faith is merely a more socially acceptable way of calling him a liar.
RELIGION
White Christians Are Now A Minority In 19 American States -- Including Some Parts Of The Bible Belt
By Religion News Service, Religion News Service
(RNS) The notion of America as a mostly white, mostly Christian country is rapidly becoming a fact for the history books
RELIGION
The Bible's for Losers (And Why That's a Good Thing)
By Derek Penwell, Contributor
Author, Editor, Speaker, Activist
Taking everything into consideration, the Bible was written mostly by losers for the benefit of other losers. That's not a value judgment, just an observation. Think about it.
RELIGION
Why Liberal Protestantism Should Quit Living in Fear of Its Own Death
By Derek Penwell, Contributor
Author, Editor, Speaker, Activist
Are we too liberal? Do we have enough arbitrary rules to halt the decline and sustain a stable membership? These are questions that should be qualified by being asked in light of the most important question: Are we following Jesus faithfully?
RELIGION
Who Cares If It Works? Jesus, Torture, and Rectal Hydration
By Derek Penwell, Contributor
Author, Editor, Speaker, Activist
Look, I'm not saying you can't be a Christian and support torture. I'm just saying that you're going to have a hard time convincing Jesus that it's a Christianity he would recognize.
RELIGION
Following Jesus and Annoying the One Percent
By Derek Penwell, Contributor
Author, Editor, Speaker, Activist
You've got two choices: You can advocate for the rich or for the poor. But if you happen to be Christian, it important to factor Jesus into your answer.
RELIGION
A Pastoral Letter to Older Generations About Those Frustrating Millennials
By Derek Penwell, Contributor
Author, Editor, Speaker, Activist
The question that older generations of leaders within mainline denominations must ask themselves, I suggested, therefore, is: "What if the kids don't want our church?" This is an an important issue in the age of the "nones."
RELIGION
Why Knowledge of Injustice Without Action Makes You Part of the Problem
By Derek Penwell, Contributor
Author, Editor, Speaker, Activist
If you happen to be a follower of Jesus who believes LGBT people have suffered injustice at the hands of the church, your response to that injustice is a moral question.
RELIGION
7 Reasons Not to Freak Out About Protestant Mainline Decline
By Derek Penwell, Contributor
Author, Editor, Speaker, Activist
Year-over-year, our loss of Total and Participating Membership sits close to 20 percent, but that our Average Worship Attendance is only a little over 4 percent. That is a shocking loss to absorb in a single year.
RELIGION
11 Questions for Christian Companies in Light of the Hobby Lobby Decision
By Derek Penwell, Contributor
Author, Editor, Speaker, Activist
Is the primary business model of Christian companies to refrain from storing up for themselves treasures on earth, in favor of storing up for themselves treasures in heaven? (Matthew 6:19-20).
RELIGION
How's Kirby? Why the Church Has to Get Gay Marriage Right
By Derek Penwell, Contributor
Author, Editor, Speaker, Activist
It takes a certain amount of audacious irresponsibility to be a racist. You're swimming against the cultural current. I long for a world in which being homophobic makes as little sense as being racist. That's the kind of world I want to live in, the kind of world I want to raise my kids in.
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