World Vision found itself testing the evangelical boundaries in March when it announced it would recognize employees’ same-sex marriages. Within 48 hours, it reversed itself. At its core, the reversal raised a stark question: Can you be an evangelical and support same-sex marriage? Reverberations from the policy flip-flop continue to unfold. Last week, Jacquelline Fuller, director of corporate giving at Google, resigned from the international relief organization’s board. Faithful America, an online Christian community focused on social justice, had gathered... Read more

When filmmaker Jaime Prater decided to make a documentary exploring the lives of the children he grew up with at the Jesus People USA religious community, he says, he never imagined his research would “open the floodgates.” Stories poured out about sexual and physical abuse. More than a dozen adults who lived as children at Jesus People relate their stories in Prater’s film, “No Place to Call Home,” which has been released on Vimeo on Demand. Jesus People is one... Read more

In the second grade, I went to Career Day at Mountainview Elementary dressed as a preacher. What a little weirdo, I was. A weirdo who wanted to be like her dad, because here’s a confession: like Taylor, Megan, Tori and Kolby of Lifetime’s original docu-series,Preachers’ Daughters, I’m a preacher’s daughter too. I’m not Catholic and it’s certainly nothing I’m ashamed of, so technically that’s a pretty weak confession on my part. But being a preacher’s kid has a certain stigma... Read more

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by Peter GathjeR3 Contributor A guest I’ll call “Tom,” shared a bit about his life with me this past Thursday morning. He moved to Memphis with his family from Milwaukee when he was seven. He’s lived in Memphis ever since. When he was seven, his father died. When he was twelve, his mother died. When he was twenty-four, his grandmother died. He had no other living relatives that could care for him or about him, so he was alone in... Read more

Arecent article on the challenge of interfaith marriage in Greek Orthodoxy has been circulating widely on Facebook.[1] One reason for the article’s popularity is its startling claim that 90% of Americans with Greek roots are no longer in communion with the Orthodox Church. Similarly dismal statistics are likely true for most Orthodox jurisdictions in the United States, but the article in question concerns only the Greek Archdiocese. The article assumes (but does not show) that the reason for this mass apostasy is two-fold:... Read more

by Crystal LewisR3 Contributor First Posted at the Crystal St. Marie Lewis Blog NPR published a great interview with Bart Ehrman– the well-known professor who has written a new book about the historical occurrences leading to the deification of Jesus in Christianity. Early in his talk with the reporter, Dr. Ehrman said something that is worth noting, particularly in a rapidly secularizing culture that continues to find itself at odds with religion. When asked if a historian can comment on... Read more

by Andre E. JohnsonR3 Editor *This paper was given at the Southern States Communication Association on April 4, 2014 under the title, “The Rhetoric of Black Pain and Viewing Tragedy through the Lens of Blackness: Obama’s Response after the Zimmerman Verdict.” It is a part of a much larger work examining the rhetoric of President Barack Obama  Introduction On July 19, 2013, President Barack Obama delivered by all accounts, an impromptu speech responding to the verdict in the George Zimmerman... Read more

Already the most religious state in the nation, Mississippi recently passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or SB-2681 (which some are referring to rather unkindly as BS-2681). This legislation will not only add the words “In God We Trust” to the state seal, it will protect religious folks from … well, there’s the rub: The wording of the bill is so deliberately lawyer-friendly that only someone with a PhD in sophistry from Harvard Law could possibly fathom its real meaning.... Read more

I’ve spent a lot of time over the years talking to Christians who have lost their faith or who are wavering in what they believe and considering for the first time a life without faith. Many of these tales follow a similar pattern: 1. I was raised Christian or I’ve been a Christian for [insert large number] years. 2. At some point, I realized I had never read the Bible — at least not closely. So I decided to read... Read more