September 1, 2022
The Growing Influence of Glowing Rectangles
Help Your Children Use Tech Wisely and Limit the Dangers
Culture & Public Square
Culture & Public Square helps Christians think biblically about life in society and engage today’s issues with conviction and compassion. Explore articles on current events, ethics, justice, race, technology, public life, and cultural trends—grounded in Scripture and shaped by Christian wisdom. You’ll find guidance for faithful witness, thoughtful dialogue, and making disciples in a complex world, while keeping the gospel at the center. Whether you’re navigating challenging conversations or seeking clarity for ministry and daily life, these resources equip you to live and speak with grace and truth in the public square.
September 1, 2022
The White-Jesus Myth
The Historical Reality of the ‘Whitewashing’ of Christianity in America and Why It Matters By Jerome Gay Jr. On February 15, 1974, the TV show Good Times aired an episode called “Black Jesus.” Good Times featured a strong Black family with loving parents, creative children, and caring neighbors living in a Chicago housing project. The main character in the show was the flamboyant James “J.J.” Evans Jr. with his rousing signature wail, “Dy-no-miiiite!” In this episode, Florida (J.J.’s mother) became terribly upset when Michael (J.J.’s brother) hung J.J.’s painting of a Black Jesus on the wall next to the family’s
September 1, 2022
What’s the Problem with Politics in the Church?
By Ben Cachiaras Over the last two years I have listened to pastors and witnessed churches across the country share sad stories. They tell of congregations splitting, longtime members leaving, and pastors getting fired. I’ve seen tight-knit small groups blow apart, families feud, and longtime friendships abruptly end. Has this happened primarily because of major scandal in the church or moral failure? Or was it false doctrine—a refusal to recognize the divinity of Christ? Or perhaps a mishandling of Scripture? No. It was politics. We can barely even discuss politics anymore. We polarize over every issue, demonize those with differing
July 8, 2022
Lawyer, Preacher Fred Gray Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom
President Joe Biden lauded Fred Gray as “one of the most important civil rights lawyers in our history” Thursday as he awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Gray, 91, is a longtime minister and elder with the noninstrumental Churches of Christ.
How God Plans to Make America (and All Nations) Great Again
Many American churchgoers are asking: “When will God bring revival to this nation and restore our Christian foundations?” The desire for a country based on Christian morality and for revival is not unlike the concern in Jesus’ day for the restoration of Israel, its freedom, and economic prosperity. . . .
July 1, 2022
The Slavery of the Digital World
How to Break the Chains and Build a Tech-Wise Life for You and Your Children By Tyler McKenzie I believe history will remember 2007 as a defining year. Why? In 2007, a nuclear-sized tech explosion occurred. Facebook transitioned from a college to global phenomenon. Twitter went global. “The cloud” took off. Hadoop began expanding the ability of any company to store and analyze enormous amounts of unstructured data (which enabled big data and cloud computing). Amazon released its first Kindle. Google introduced Android. And (drumroll please) Steve Jobs introduced the first-generation iPhone. As I mentioned in my May/June Engage column
Behind the Screen: Insights into Online Church
By Kent E. Fillinger Prior to the pandemic, most larger churches were already actively and sometimes aggressively using online church as an outreach strategy to connect with more people beyond their physical locations. For many smaller churches, the pandemic expedited their technological timeline and forced them into the realm of online church. Every church I know is still trying to “crack the code” to determine how to shift people from “passive viewers” of online church to “engaged disciples.” Some churches have invested significant time, staffing, and financial resources to expand their online push and to upgrade their technology. Despite these
Resolve
The Declaration of Independence spoke great words about freedom, but even greater words were spoken 2,000 years ago.
Christian School Blasted for Teaching Christian Worldview: What We Can Learn from the Situation
My high school alma mater, Christian Academy of Louisville, recently was roundly criticized after a teacher asked students to write an essay imagining how they would dialogue with a fellow student who was wrestling with same-sex attraction. . . .
Marking a Memorable Day
Every Lord’s Day at the time of Communion, we mark a day in history when our Lord Jesus engaged in a battle to reclaim the world to spiritual liberty.
‘Continuous Partial Attention’: The Impact of Smartphones on Us, Our Kids, and Our Faith
By Tyler McKenzie In a punchy scene from Gulliver’s Travels, the Lilliputians (the little people) think Gulliver’s clock is his god because he keeps checking it. After interrogating him, the Lilliputians conclude the following: “And we conjecture it is either some unknown animal, or the god that he worships; but we are more inclined to the latter opinion, because he assured us . . . that he seldom did any thing without consulting it. He called it his oracle, and said, it pointed out the time for every action of his life.” Already, in 1727, author and Irish clergyman Jonathan
March 17, 2022
The Power of Unity: A Call to Shift from Enemies to Allies
Have we as Christians—conservative and liberal, independent and denominational, etc.—forgotten that we are not each other’s enemies . . . that we all have a common enemy in Satan?
February 21, 2022
The Undiscovered Country
Exploration of the unknown was a common theme in Gene Roddenberry’s fictitious Star Trek stories. Roddenberry sought to avoid spiritual truths, yet there are many lessons for Christians embedded in those futuristic fables. . . .
February 14, 2022
A President’s Faith
Jesus fought for our freedom, as president Calvin Coolidge described, “not with the sword, but with the cross.”
January 10, 2022
Extremist for Love
At Calvary, Martin Luther King Jr. contended, "Jesus Christ . . . was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment."
September 1, 2021
Our 9/11 Journey of Escape and Transformation
“Get up! Get up!” my husband yelled, “Someone’s bombed the World Trade Center!” I struggled to sit up, but one glimpse of the fear in Brian’s eyes jolted me fully awake. I jumped out of bed and followed him to our terrace. Brian and I had just moved into this apartment only six blocks south of the World Trade Center complex, and our 24th-floor terrace provided a coveted view of the city. Now, we could see thick black smoke rolling from the North Tower. Emergency vehicles raced toward the World Trade Center—lights flashing, sirens blaring. Suddenly, something caught my eye.
September 1, 2021
The Equality Act: Its Impact on Churches and How We Should Respond
On May 14, 1974, a spunky U.S. representative from New York named Bella Abzug introduced the first version of what we now know as the Equality Act. Even though the bill was co-sponsored by another New York representative and was referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary, the bill had little support and never saw the light of day. For the next 45 years, the Equality Act, in one form or another, found its way back in front of Congress. In 2019, the Equality Act passed the House for the first time. Even though it died in the Senate,
September 1, 2021
The 4-1-1 on 9/11: How a Terrorist Attack On America Changed Everything
American generational history is defined by marker events. Terrible assassinations. Catastrophic disasters. Tragic failures. Bloody wars. Economic depressions. From Bunker Hill to Gettysburg to Vietnam, America has been shaped by Thomas Paine’s “the times that try men’s souls.” For those born in the last half of the 20th century, no event proved more horrific than the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. That moment was our generation’s “Pearl Harbor.” In its wake came transformational change in how America socialized, worked, learned, played, and churched. In telephone vocabulary, 9-1-1 is an emergency assistance call. So it’s strangely fitting that September 11,
September 1, 2021
How Do We Respond to Cancel Culture?
Cancel culture can reek of moral superiority, revel in violence, lack in grace, and eschew redemption, but I believe it can also do some good. When racism is squelched, abuse is punished, victims are protected, the corrupt are exposed, and moral progress is made, Jesus is glad. Even when the fire burns within the church—that is, when church leaders are guilty and held accountable—we should be hopeful God will resurrect from the ashes something sanctified in the furnace of repentance! Maybe we should thank God for cancel culture. As Christians, we have the best theological resources to shine in a
Update on Afghanistan: Where Do We Go from Here?
If we want to see God do something big and miraculous, we need to pray. The Afghan people are in a dangerous moment in their history. Pray for a miracle . . . but also pray for endurance and tenacious faith. . . .
