How Bans on LGBTQ+ Student Clubs Threaten Religious Liberty

Last updated on: December 22, 2025 at 8:41 pm By John San Nicolas

On June 20, 2025, the State of Texas passed Senate Bill 12. The bill includes several provisions that bear upon operations of public education associated with identity politics, such as gender and LGBTQ+ issues. For example, SB 12 (see the latest text here) prohibits the assigning of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion duties to school employees. It also forbids schools from assisting what the legislature calls “social transitioning.” This term encompasses gender reassignment surgeries, adopting a name associated with a different... Read more

The Truth About the Gen Z Revival

Last updated on: December 13, 2025 at 7:10 pm By John San Nicolas

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This past year, there has been a lot of media buzz surrounding a religious revival among Gen Z in the US. Bible sales are up, contemporary Christian music (CCM) is booming, and there are reports of Gen Z coming back to church. If this revival is really happening, it is extremely significant. Religiosity in the US has been decreasing with each generation. Thus, a resurgence of religiosity among the youngest adult generation would mark a change in a decades-long trend... Read more

Political Theology After Partisanship

Last updated on: September 9, 2025 at 10:22 pm By John San Nicolas

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One pressing concern among postliberal theologians is the perverting nature of political arrangements. The terms of the world, in other words, eclipse the transcendence of Christian theology. It entraps Christian witness in a prism that does not refract but hides the light of Christ from the world. Partisanship is one such mode of worldly engagement. Commentators often deride party politics, and rightly so. There is already a wealth of literature on political and affective polarization in the US. This polarization... Read more

Religious Liberty and Race in America

Last updated on: August 16, 2025 at 6:23 pm By John San Nicolas

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Religious liberty is rightfully called the “first freedom” enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. The First Amendment begins: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. Religious liberty is therefore twofold. First, it includes a negative freedom from government establishing religion. Second, it entails a positive freedom to exercise one’s religion. While religious liberty is often championed as a cornerstone of democratic life, it must not be celebrated uncritically. Like all rights, religious liberty has conflicted with... Read more

Charlie Kirk Visits Legacy Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico

Last updated on: September 11, 2025 at 1:40 pm By John San Nicolas

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ALBUQUERQUE, NM — On August 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk visited an Albuquerque megachurch’s “Freedom Night” service. Kirk is the founder of conservative organization, Turning Point USA (TPUSA). TPUSA runs several operations, including a political action committee which donates money to Republican politicians and an endowment which racks in millions of revenue each year. I attended Freedom Night at Legacy Church to document the event itself and get perspectives from the Americans who went to protest it. First, we will give... Read more

Is the Pro-Life Movement Losing Its Party Platform Again?

Last updated on: August 3, 2025 at 9:23 pm By John San Nicolas

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Pro-life concerns are at an all-time low in the Republican Party. And abortion’s importance has been waning for a long time. As a child, I paid attention to how adults at church talked about party politics. Often, when someone brought up an upcoming election or party politics, another would acknowledge that neither party fully represented Christian values. However, there was always someone either in conversation or from the pulpit who would insist that one option was clearly better than the... Read more

South Park’s Critique of MAGA Christianity

Last updated on: July 30, 2025 at 4:34 pm By John San Nicolas

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South Park makes the rounds yet again in their latest episode. Years ago, the show depicted the Iranian dictator Sadam Hussein in bed with Satan. But this time around, it was not a foreign dictator sleeping with the devil, but the president of America himself. This latest flash in the pan was stirred on by a couple of factors. The first was South Park’s recent contract with Paramount, which has a monopoly on media entertainment. In their episode, South Park... Read more

On Peacemaking, Agonistic Politics, and Polarization

Last updated on: July 20, 2025 at 11:09 pm By John San Nicolas

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To his audience, and to us, Jeremiah says: seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare (Jeremiah 29:7, ESV). The Church is on sojourn in this world. We are here temporarily. Thus, we hold things lightly, be they projects of liberation, social justice, conservation, revolution, or nationhood. Yet, this exilic posture orientates us towards the things of this world so... Read more

Pastors Can Now Endorse Political Candidates, But Most Won’t

Last updated on: July 13, 2025 at 9:19 pm By John San Nicolas

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In a reversal of decades-long IRS policy, pastors can now endorse political candidates from the pulpit. But this isn’t the blow to the separation of church and state that many believe it to be. On July 7, 2025, the IRS filed a Joint Motion which overturned a nearly 70 year old tax code provision. The provision, named the Johnson Amendment, permitted 501c(3)’s to advocate for political issues. However, the amendment prohibited nonprofits, including churches, from endorsing or opposing political candidates.... Read more

The Faith & Media Initiative Launches New Fellowship

Last updated on: July 7, 2025 at 10:42 pm By John San Nicolas

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Salt Lake City, Utah– Last Tuesday, the Faith & Media Initiative announced the start of a new fellowship program. The fellowship, composed of thought leaders coming from a variety of cultural and religious backgrounds, is aimed at one important task: representing faith accurately in media. Faith is a tricky thing to represent. Even within a singular religious tradition, such as Islam, Buddhism, or Christianity, practitioners will disagree on what the tradition means and how to faithfully practice it. And even... Read more

Where did David spare Saul's life when he found him in a cave?