The US in turmoil: what next for US evangelicals?
Gerald Bray
Date posted: 1 Feb 2021
As en was going to press, Joe Biden was due to be sworn in as President, with more trouble predicted on the streets. Gerald Bray, distinguished Professor of Historical Theology at Knox Theological Seminary, and Director of Research for the Latimer Trust at Oak Hill in London, reports exclusively for en from the United States.
When Donald Trump lost the election last November there was one thing that everybody agreed on – he would not go quietly.
Stark warning to Southern Baptists
Iain Taylor / Southern Baptist Convention
Date posted: 1 Apr 2021
Departing President of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), J.D. Greear, has used his final message to the Executive Committee to demand that the church engages constructively with Critical Race Theory (CRT).
The talk coincided with the much-publicised decision of leading Bible teacher Beth Moore – a longstanding critic of Donald Trump – to quit the SBC, saying ‘I can no longer identify with Southern Baptists.’
Biden: liberal changes or token gestures?
Gerald Bray
Date posted: 1 Mar 2021
The
inauguration of a new American
President
is
always
a
time
of
great
expectations, but especially now, after the
sorry end to the previous regime.
Most people are relieved that the transfer
of power went off without a hitch. The
overarching need to deal with the pandemic
is at the forefront of everyone’s minds, and
Joe Biden’s promise to deliver 100 million
does of the vaccine in his first 100 days in
office is being widely hailed as an ambitious
but still achievable goal. In the circumstances,
other matters have taken a back seat. Biden is
a sincere Catholic and his recent attendance
at church has been duly noted,
though
some of his executive orders are not what
the Vatican would have prescribed. He has
rescinded the restrictions on abortion that
the previous administration introduced and
has appointed homosexual and transgender
people to prominent positions. He has also
removed the bar to transgendered soldiers
serving in the armed forces. It is hard to
say what practical effect things like that will have, and for the moment few people are
talking openly about them. Whether they are
the tip of a looming iceberg of radical reform,
or simply a nod to left-wing lobbies that will
soon be disappointed in their deeper aims,
remains to be seen.
