There’s not a lot making Americans hopeful these days. More than half of the country told pollsters last year that they were “extremely worried” about the direction of the country. One in 4 said that “nothing made them hopeful.” Their anxieties

There's No Good Plan to Stop 100,000 Opioid Deaths a Year

Nov 19th, 2021 1h 1m

100,000 Americans died from April 2020 to April 2021 due to opioids, according to numbers released this week from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The majority of the deaths have come via fentanyl, which accounted for more than 7

Fewer Politicians Are Seeking Compromise. Should Christians?

Nov 12th, 2021 1h 2m

Last Friday, both chambers of Congress passed an infrastructure bill that will commit more than one trillion dollars to America’s deteriorating roads and bridges, making life easier for pedestrians and bikers, improving broadband access, and re

Why the Climate Change Movement Needs the Church

Nov 5th, 2021 49m 45s

Politicians, business leaders, and activists from around the world are meeting this and next week in Glasgow, Scotland, to make commitments and urge others to do the same to keep the planet from overheating more than it already is. Earth’s glob

Should Christians Be Disturbed by Facebook’s Mess?

Oct 29th, 2021 48m 14s

This week, the revelations from a number of internal Facebook documents came to light, thanks to Frances Haugen, a former employee of the social media giant. The documents reveal that the organization, as The Washington Post summarized, “privat

Does God Really Want Missionaries to Risk Their Lives?

Oct 22nd, 2021 48m 1s

On Saturday, a gang kidnapped 17 North American missionaries in Haiti as the party returned from an orphanage in a suburb of Port-au-Prince. Since then, the group, known as 400 Mawozo, has demanded a ransom of $17 million for the victims, who i

What ‘Ted Lasso’ Understands About Redemption

Oct 15th, 2021 58m 15s

Season 1 and Season 2 spoilers ahead.The second season of Ted Lasso ends with an image of Nate. The once kitman, recently promoted Greyhounds assistant coach is not wearing Richmond attire as we see him lead team exercises on the pitch. Instea

What Francis Collins Changed for Christians in Science

Oct 9th, 2021 47m 21s

This week, Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, announced that he would retire at the end of the year. An evangelical Christian who previously worked as the head of the Human Genome Project, Collins’ 2009 appointm

Did We Get Tammy Faye Wrong?

Sep 24th, 2021 56m 5s

In this third decade of the 21st century, we’ve seen a lot of religious scandals, with Christian leaders abusing their power and position. Too many. Nevertheless, still to this day when you say the words religious scandal—more often than not fo

Drones Have Changed the Moral Calculus for War

Sep 17th, 2021 44m 44s

On August 29, as American troops were accelerating their pullout from Afghanistan, the U.S. military ordered its last drone strike in the 20 year war. The missile destroyed a parked car that military officials said was operated by an Islamic St

Did 9/11 Change How Evangelicals See Muslims?

Sep 10th, 2021 52m 43s

This year marks 20 years since 19 men hijacked four planes, driving two of the aircraft into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon, and one into a field in Pennsylvania, after several of the passengers fought back. The attacks killed ne

Wisdom, Folly, and Taking Ivermectin to Treat COVID-19

Sep 3rd, 2021 56m 48s

In recent weeks, some Americans sick with COVID-19 have been looking for a cure from a very unorthodox source: ivermectin. Here’s how the Food and Drug Administration described the situation in a letter to veterinarians and animal health retail

Slow to Speak: Listeners React to Our Critical Race Theory Episode

Aug 31st, 2021 23m 48s

Here's a special, stand-alone Slow to Speak where guest host Kate Shellnutt joins Morgan Lee to read over listener feedback from Episode 271: Critical Race Theory: What Christians Need to Know.If you have feedback for us about any episode, we'

Is the Quest for ‘Meaningful Work’ a Scam?

Aug 27th, 2021 39m 30s

This spring and summer, a lot of headlines about the economy sang a similar tune:From CNN: Why American workers don't want to go back to normalThe Wall Street Journal: Job Openings Are at Record Highs. Why Aren’t Unemployed Americans Filling

'My Heart Is Broken’: An Afghan Pastor Grapples with the US Withdrawal

Aug 20th, 2021 43m 40s

Earlier this year, Joe Biden announced that after close to 20 years, the United States would be withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan. Last week, as the military began its exit, the Taliban was ready and within days had seized control of the

Paul's Advice on Letting Conscience Be Your Guide on Vaccines and Masks

Aug 13th, 2021 1h 5m

This week, the Christian Post reprinted a blog by Samuel Sey, a Canadian writer, entitled, “Why I am not getting the vaccine.” Sey’s essay didn’t address the scientific concerns he has with the vaccines, though he says he has hired a fitness tr

Rerun: The Fire This Time: How Climate Change Shifts Our Understanding of Suffering

Aug 7th, 2021 59m 4s

Due to production issues, we are not running a new podcast today. Instead, we are replaying a unfortunately, once-again-timely episode we recorded last year about California’s devastating forest fires. We’ll see you all next week with a fresh e

The Reality of Fighting Evictions During a Pandemic

Aug 6th, 2021 56m 2s

Last fall, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an eviction moratorium that went into effect last September and was initially slated to go until the end of the year. But the order ended up being extended several times, both by

Before Simone Biles Becomes Christians' Next Sports Metaphor

Jul 30th, 2021 1h 4m

After one vault on Tuesday, Simone Biles took herself out of the US gymnastics women’s team competition. A day later, she withdrew from the all-around, “in order to focus on her mental health,” read a statement on the USA Gymnastics' Twitter ac

Billionaires Are Traveling to Space. Should Christians Celebrate?

Jul 22nd, 2021 1h 3m

This Tuesday, Amazon founder and the richest man on the planet, Jeff Bezos, entered space for the first time. This was the virgin flight for Blue Origin, the space travel company that Bezos founded, and lasted 10 minutes and 10 seconds.Bezos's

Why Some Indigenous Christians Still Have Hope in the Church

Jul 16th, 2021 1h 4m

Half a dozen Canadian churches have been set on fire or burned down this summer. This arson has come at a time when multiple mass graves have been found across the nation on the grounds of now-defunct residential schools. Operated by multiple c

After the President's Assassination, What Haitian Christians Really Need from the Western Church

Jul 9th, 2021 1h 14m

On Wednesday, Haiti’s president Jovenel Moïse was assassinated. His death came after protesters had demanded his departure for months. Moïse had governed the country of 11 million by decree, even as constitutional scholars and legal experts arg

Critical Race Theory: What Christians Need to Know

Jul 2nd, 2021 1h 13m

Christians should be afraid of critical race theory. That’s the message that a number of conservative Christian leaders have shared in recent months. Last fall, the presidents of the five Southern Baptist seminaries issued a statement saying th

The Story of Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Matters in 2021

Jun 24th, 2021 59m 9s

On October 14, 2014, Pastor Mark Driscoll resigned from Mars Hill, the Seattle-based church he had founded and led since 1996. Driscoll gained national attention for the popularity of his church in a largely secular part of the US, but also for

Critical Race Theory, Sex Abuse, and Southern Baptists

Jun 18th, 2021 1h 7m

More than 16,000 Southern Baptists met in Nashville this week for their convention’s annual meeting. The largest crowd in a quarter century, the meeting attracted significant mainstream media attention as tensions over critical race theory and