For as long as I’ve followed the news and its weekly examples of the latest clergy or politician who has professed what are often called “family values” — which everyone knows is code for anti-LGBTQ+ equality — it has become routine, even expected, to find
Forgiving the sticks, stones and words that wound A Rosh Hashanah meditation Preached at the Unitarian Church in Charleston, S.C. I am the youngest of five children. The baby. I have a brother who is two years older than I am. Then, there is a
What does the reversal of Roe mean for Obergefell? Overturning marriage equality is now a present threat. Many of the issues both people of color and LGBTQ+ Americans confronted in President Trump’s first term — health care, unemployment, housing, immigration, voting rights, among others —
Just about seven years ago, our family had the privilege to get to know our child more deeply than we had ever known him. Our son, at the time our daughter, came out to us as transgender. While that took some explaining to understand, we
James Dobson, the late founder of Focus on the Family and an adviser to five U.S. presidents, became one of the most influential evangelical leaders in the United States from the late 20th century onward. Through his 70-plus books, radio broadcasts and political lobbying, he
Admit it. Loving LGBTQ+ relationships could be better. It’s the cultural messages about ideal relationships that actually keep us from having relationships that are all we’d like them to be. No matter how damaging these messages might be, society has little incentive to change them
The world we live in today is not only dangerous, but it makes it especially difficult to live out what Jesus commanded us to do. In a day when the Church continues to spew forth theological lies that are designed to give power to as
As I was thinking about Pride activities last month and ongoing, I had the thought that it takes a particular courage to be out and proud. Where does that courage come from? Are those individuals who truly need this particular courage aware that God backs
The standard explanation is that Pride Month commemorates the date of the Stonewall uprising in June 1969, but with time and hard-won successes, its celebrations became more like LGBTQ+ expos or commercial fairs than Stonewall-commemorating fights for acceptance and liberation. The larger ones not only
In what can only be described as a heartbreaking — but sadly not surprising — moment in Australian church history, Canberra Baptist Church and Hamilton Baptist Church have been officially expelled from the New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory Baptist Association. Their “offence”? Daring to fully welcome and