On Wednesday, September 18, I flew to Las Vegas, Nevada to attend the annual conference of Religion News Association, an organization that has been around since 1949. https://twitter.com/C_Stroop/status/1174050109606129664?s=20 Some time back, ex-evangelical journalist Liam Adams invited me to be part of a panel on religion reporting and social media along with him, Aysha Khan, and Sophia … Continue reading Reflections on Religion News Association’s 2019 Conference
Empowerment against Evangelization: Countering Conversion Attempts by Asserting Moral Autonomy
Some Confessions of a Past Proselytizer I remember how stressful it was for me, as a child and young adult, to believe I "had to" attempt to convert others to Christianity--specifically the evangelical variety I grew up in, which those in my community took to be most authentic expression of the faith. As a result … Continue reading Empowerment against Evangelization: Countering Conversion Attempts by Asserting Moral Autonomy
We are Not a Crisis: Lament the Problems of the Church If You Must, but Stop Erasing Ex-Evangelicals
Anyone other than an editor of a major centrist media outlet might have decided that in July 2019, the jeremiad-over-evanglelical-hypocrisy think piece should be considered passé. So of course Peter Wehner recently published just another such lament in The Atlantic. Don't get me wrong; I'd rather have pundits criticizing conservative, mostly white evangelicals for their hypocrisy … Continue reading We are Not a Crisis: Lament the Problems of the Church If You Must, but Stop Erasing Ex-Evangelicals
Epic Christian Fails: A Malefic Mix-Up
It's the end of the month, and you know what that means. It's time for this month's edition of #EpicChristianFails, in which Not Your Mission Field sifts through a month's worth of the always abundant examples of unintentionally amusing incompetence in Christian contexts and highlights one as the month's most "epic" Christian fail. In a first, … Continue reading Epic Christian Fails: A Malefic Mix-Up
Setting the Record Straight on #ExposeChristianSchools: Why the Media Must not Cede Coverage of Ex-Evangelicals to the Right
On January 18, I launched the hashtag #ExposeChristianSchools on Twitter as a response to Vice President Mike Pence and conservative commentators like David French lambasting liberals over legitimate criticism of Second Lady Karen Pence for choosing to teach art at Immanuel Christian School in Springfield, Virginia—a K-8 school that explicitly discriminates against members of the … Continue reading Setting the Record Straight on #ExposeChristianSchools: Why the Media Must not Cede Coverage of Ex-Evangelicals to the Right
#EvangelicalIntoEnglish, Missionary Edition: Unpacking Ed Stetzer’s Spin on the Death of Radical Missionary John Chau
In my latest for Playboy, "On the Death of John Chau and the Madness of Missionaries," I wrote: That John Chau was a product of the radical apocalyptic evangelical milieu I grew up in, and driven by its approach to missions, thus seems undeniable. Why, then, is the commentary from the most prominent evangelical outlets relatively sparse? … Continue reading #EvangelicalIntoEnglish, Missionary Edition: Unpacking Ed Stetzer’s Spin on the Death of Radical Missionary John Chau
Ex-Evangelical Conversations: Novelist and Journalist Josiah Hesse
There's really no one else like journalist and novelist Josiah Hesse, author of the ongoing Carnality series, in the Exvangelical community, or, presumably, anywhere. His literary work exhibits a dark brilliance, he has an evocative way with words and striking aesthetic sensibilities, and he has been a pioneer both in the production of what could … Continue reading Ex-Evangelical Conversations: Novelist and Journalist Josiah Hesse
Happy 4th? On the Complicated Problem of Patriotism in Conditions of Injustice
"We've got the American Jesus Bolstering national faith We've got the American Jesus Overwhelming millions every day." – Bad Religion, "American Jesus," Recipe for Hate (1993) Some Reflections for Independence Day, July 4, 2018 Yesterday, Mandy Nicole, founder and editor-in-chief of Fundamentally Free, a multi-author ex-evangelical blog, published a piece called "Evangelicalism Killed my Patriotism." She notes the presence … Continue reading Happy 4th? On the Complicated Problem of Patriotism in Conditions of Injustice
Authoritarian Christianity, or, what Franklin Graham Really Means when he Equates Progressivism with Godlessness
In a recent New York Times piece by Elizabeth Dias, President and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan's Purse Franklin Graham is quoted as defining "progressive" as "just another word for godless." This language might strike some readers as mere hyperbole, or as a polemical swipe at political opponents meant perhaps to be … Continue reading Authoritarian Christianity, or, what Franklin Graham Really Means when he Equates Progressivism with Godlessness
Not Your Mission Field 