“This is who I really am.”

In those six simple words lies the heart of one of the most important and most controversial topics in our culture right now: gender identity. Such a sentence carries heavy meaning, especially for those who have suffered confusion and dissonance when it comes to gender and sexuality.

Our cultural conversations about transgenderism, gender dysphoria, and sexual identity matter not ultimately because of social or political implications, but because of what these issue..

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives passed the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act on Tuesday, essentially placing a permanent ban on taxpayer funding of abortions, as outlined in the Hyde Amendment. The matter now moves to the Senate for consideration.

The Act had been introduced by Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, a longtime supporter of the Amendment, which was first passed in 1976 to ban the use of Medicaid funds for abortion, with the excep..

What Paula White’s Washington moment implies for the prosperity gospel’s future.

Donald Trump discovered Paula White the same way legions of fans and followers did: on television.

Fifteen years of prayer, visits, and friendship later, the Florida preacher now serves as the top spiritual adviser for America’s president-elect and, essentially, his guide to the country’s religious conservatives.

Her behind-the-scenes counsel became news as Trump prepared for the presidency. It was White who arra..

The six religious leaders who will offer prayers at Donald Trump’s inauguration have been announced.
They include three Pentecostals: Paula White, Bishop Wayne T. Jackson, and Samuel Rodriguez. White and Jackson, a black megachurch pastor, are prominent preachers of the “prosperity Gospel.’ (See our earlier post on White.) Rodriguez is a Hispanic Assemblies of God minister also preaches a perhaps less extreme version of the prosperity gospel.
The others are Franklin Graham, whose father Billy no..

In today’s post, I am interviewing historian Paul Harvey of the University of Colorado – Colorado Springs. Dr. Harvey is one of America’s most distinguished historians of religion and race, and is the author of the new book Bounds of Their Habitation: Race and Religion in American History.

[TK] The intersections between race and religion in America have inspired everything from courageous moral reform movements to the most loathsome kinds of bigotry. Why have racial and religious issues been so..

Here’s the text of Martin Luther King’s famous speech/sermon/address in Washington DC. I remember watching it as a kid on TV.
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emanc..

To observe Martin Luther King Day, read his classic “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” It was written to fellow pastors who were concerned that a man of the cloth would engage in protests that would get him arrested.
The letter is interesting in itself for the case that it makes for civil disobedience, under certain very restrictive conditions. Some of what he says will resonate with pro-lifers and religious freedom advocates.
The letter also shows how it was possible back then in 1963 to continua..

If Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Had a Dream” speech (August 28, 1963) was the visionary sermon of the Civil Rights Movement, his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was its epistolatory defense.

On April 12, 1963—Good Friday—an open letter had appeared in the Birmingham, Alabama, newspaper issuing “A Call for Unity” and protesting the recent Civil Rights demonstrations in Birmingham.

The eclectic group of eight white clergymen from Alabama who wrote and signed the letter—two Episcopalians and two Met..

I love Yo-Yo Ma.

The stellar, nearly flawless strokes of his bow dancing upon tensioned strings—they resurrect meticulously crafted melodies conjured centuries ago among master musicians.

Centuries have passed since then. And yet I lie on my bed at night listening to these classics, revived at the hands of a modern prodigy—every note coming to me through tiny, white headphones, as if coming through time and space.

Oh, how things have changed from the days when my parents would take us on Sund..

Comment countNational Geographic’s fascinating series The Story of God With Morgan Freeman kicks off its second season Jan. 16. The first episode is titled “The Chosen One,” and it focuses on those whom, in a variety of religions, believe that they’ve been picked to do special work.
Some of these folks have daunting tasks to fulfill. The show begins with 9-year-old Jalue Dorjee, a soccer-loving, Pokemon playing kid from Minnesota who was told he’s the reincarnation of a famous Tibetan lama. That..