Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Why Differences Should Not Divide Christians
It is one of the fallacies of modernity that to be united we all need to be the same. Unity is not uniformity. Before this is a human or social truth, it is a theological truth. If we want to see how we can be a...
October 26, 2016
Liberty University Students: Trump is the Antithesis of Christian Values (Washington Post) Donald Trump's Favorite Female Evangelist Wears a Jewish Prayer Shawl (Forward) Mormon and Gay: Church Says You Can Be Both...
Pickin’ the news
By John D. Pierce Religion news is not an insignificant subset of information for the faithful few (or even many). In fact, religion plays a role in almost all the news that impacts our lives. One service we are...
Why Many Religious Folks Don’t Trust Their Leaders
A new poll out from Pew Research shows that only 17 percent of religiously affiliated Americans have "a great deal of confidence in religious leaders to act in the best interests of the public." I wouldn't have been...
The Danger When We Make God Our Tribal Deity
I was blessed to grow up in a very sheltered and safe environment. My childhood was lived inside of a virtual cocoon. In the remote, rural, first-generation, immigrant community I grew up in, we all knew each other,...
October 25, 2016
Methodist Agency Leaves NYC as Other Institutions Face Rising Property Costs (Christian Century) Clergy Group Calls for Progressive Agenda as Early Voting Begins (Houston Chronicle) Historic Church Collapses in Chicago...
Security Issues May Increase on Church’s Agenda if Pentagon Is Right
A chilling five-minute Pentagon video warns of the breakdown - the collapse, the anarchy - by 2030 in mega-cities. It's a dystopian future, one that is the opposite end from a utopian future. The film is being shown at...
Learning to lose
By John D. Pierce After more than 20 years of publishing my opinion I’ve learned to not take the praise nor the pushback too seriously — realizing that only weak writing receives one exclusively or neither. Long ago I...
Halloween: More Christian Than Pagan
I will join my kids this week for our annual pumpkin carving in preparation for Halloween. According to a LifeWay poll, however, I am among a slight minority (49 percent) of evangelical Christians who participate fully...
Standing Up Against Abusive Words Against Women
Not many days hence, the election season of 2016 will be in the history books. Words spoken, however, throughout the course of one of the most contentious presidential races in modern times will linger. Front and...
October 22, 2016
Nashville Publisher's New Release Isn't Your Mother's Bible (The Tennessean) Gods and Monsters: The Bible Gets a Comic Book Makeover (The Guardian) Trump Looms Large in Wisconsin Panel Talk on How Religion is Shaping...
‘The Birth of a Nation’
It is rare for a mainstream Hollywood movie to take a positive view of the Bible. "The Birth of a Nation" looks at the Bible from a clear-eyed point of view. It is so clear-eyed that it is easy to see the Bible as one...
Defeating the Hatred of Today’s Crusaders – Part 2
A group of anti-Muslim "crusaders" were stopped last week from carrying out their planned violence against a Somali Muslim community in Kansas. News of this plot in the U.S., where I'm from originally, seemed to me...
October 21, 2016
Bible Society Debates Exhibit Ban for InterVarsity Press (RNS) Evangelical Leader James Dobson Urges Defiance of California Abortion Law (The Denver Channel) No Handshake and No Middle Ground (RNS) 1,000 Christian...
America’s shallow approach to abortion ignores more than it addresses
By John D. Pierce No topic of discussion creates more heat and less light than abortion. In fact, those who most passionately express their opinions on the matter are usually those who offer the least insight — instead...
Defeating the Hatred of Today’s Crusaders – Part 1
Where does it begin - the hatred that wants to hear women and children scream in terror? What kind of narrative makes one willing to cause their suffering? If America is "ever going to get turned around, it will be a...
October 20, 2016
White Evangelicals Stand With Donald Trump, Surveys Say (Tennessean) Is There a 'Trump Effect' on Public Morality? (RNS) Church Says It's Rewriting Guidelines That Banned Fat Worship Team Members (Christian Post) U.K.:...
‘Why Don’t More Black Men Attend Our Churches?’
"Why don't more black men attend our churches?" I was asked this question recently by a white woman while attending a meeting for a religious denomination. Although the denomination loves people of all races and has...
U.S. Public Trusts Military, Scientists Over Religious Leaders
The military and scientists top the list in a Pew Research Center survey about U.S. public trust, while religious leader trust lags behind. "One-third of the public (33 percent) has a great deal of confidence in the...
October 19, 2016
Black Churches Being Pushed Out of Nation's Capital (The Skanner) Hispanic Mass in ex-Baptist Megachurch Shows How Nashville is Changing (Tennessean) New Poll Shows Support for Legal Marijuana on the Rise; Southern...
“The Disturbances” Now Available as E-book
The companion book to the feature-length documentary film, "The Disturbances," is now available as an e-book. EthicsDaily.com's latest documentary shares an untold story about Christian missionaries and Nigerian...