Articles & Columns

Brian has written numerous editorials and news articles for various publications, and has reported on location from across the country and more than 30 other nations. Send feedback or questions to [email protected].

• Brian writes each week for the Word&Way e-newsletter A Public Witness.
• Brian wrote more than 270 articles and columns for Ethics Daily (now known as Good Faith Media). Find those here.
• Brian has written more than 30 articles at Baptist News Global. Find those here.
• Brian also wrote more than 80 columns for Churchnet, and edited its award-winning e-magazine (2014-2017)

Some other articles & columns:

• Newsweek (Nov. 7, 2024): How Did Trump Win? Don’t Overlook the Catholic Vote.
• Missouri Independent (March 1, 2024): When Bad Theology Leads to Bad Laws
• Religion & Politics (Jan. 4, 2023): How Mainline Protestants Help Build Christian Nationalism (coauthored with Beau Underwood)
• Sojourners (Jan. 2023): A Hind Prime Minister Walks into a Constitutional Christian Monarchy (coauthored with Beau Underwood)
• Baptist News Global (Aug. 5, 2022): News Flash: Not All Baptists are Southern
• Missouri Independent (Jan. 25, 2022): Eric Schmitt Fails a Moral Test on School Masks
• Boston Globe (Jan. 15, 2022): Boston was Right to Refuse to Fly Christian Flag (coauthored with Rachel Laser)
• Kansas City Star (Dec. 2, 2021): Jay Ashcroft is Serving Only the God of GOP Politics
• Missouri Times (July 21, 2021): Let’s Get Vaccinated, in Jesus’s Name (coauthored with Christopher Dixon)
• Church & State (July-August, 2021): Skipping Sunday: Why this Baptist Minister didn’t Attend Church On July 4
• Religion & Politics (June 15, 2021): The Tragedy of Russell Moore
• Nashville Tennessean (June 15, 2021): Former Southern Baptist Convention President Paige Patterson has Controversial Past Church Must Reckon with
• Good Faith Media (May 5, 2021): Standing for Truth – And the Right to Tell It
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Feb. 28, 2021): Missouri Rushes to Honor Limbaugh but Ignores Civil Rights Hero C.T. Vivian
• Kansas City Star (Feb. 17, 2021): Blunt, Hawley Must Rethink their Legacies
• Missouri Times (Feb. 10, 2021): Guns Shouldn’t Trump the First Amendment
• Missouri Independent (Feb. 1, 2021): There should be no pandemic privilege for religion
• Louisville Courier-Journal (Jan. 13, 2021): Mohler Should Step Down from Southern Baptist Leadership After Embracing Trump
• Roll Call (Jan. 5, 2021): The Democratic Sin of Congressional Chaplains
• Kansas City Star (Sept. 6, 2020): Don’t Snuff Out the Light Online
• Good Faith Media (Jul. 17, 2020): Baylor, White Churches Must Bare Racist Pasts Before Reparations
• Kansas City Star (Mar. 26, 2020): Parson Should Ban In-Person Church Services in Missouri
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Mar. 11, 2020): Missouri Compromise Bicentennial Must Include an Official Apology for Slavery
• Sojourners (Dec. 5, 2019): Impeaching King Herod
• Christian Citizen (Nov. 1, 2019): Of Trees and Thornbushes
• Baptist Times (Jul. 15, 2019): Global Baptists Speak Out on Women, Intolerance
• Christian Citizen (May 21, 2019): Reclaiming the Historic Understanding of Religious Liberty for All
• Reflections (Sept.-Dec. 2018): wrote seven daily devotionals
• Kansas City Star (Sept. 20, 2018): Political Activity Ban Actually Protects Churches
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Sept 6, 2018): Kavanaugh Works to Dismantle Wall Between Church, State
• Baptist World (Jan.-Mar. 2018): How the Reformation (and a Baptist Meeting) Changed MLK’s Name
• Report from the Capital (Jan./Feb. 2018): A Conversation with Amanda Tyler
• Report from the Capital (July/Aug. 2017): Global Baptists Urge Religious Liberty for All
• Baptist Times (Jul 11, 2017): Global Baptists Promote Religious Liberty Concerns 
• Religion News Service (June 2, 2017): I Refuse to Forget the Christians Advocating for Climate Action
• Red Letter Christians (Sept. 15, 2016): Bearing Witness on Moral Day of Action
• Red Letter Christians (Aug. 23, 2016): Political Slogans For Christians to Rally Behind
• Red Letter Christians (Apr. 26, 2016): An Eye For An Eye Makes the Bible Blind
• Wall of Separation (Apr. 22, 2016): This Baptist Minister Opposes Discrimination. Read To Find Out Why.
• Coracle (Mar. 23, 2016): Experiencing Cotton Patch Moments
• Red Letter Christians (Mar. 3, 2016): What Would Jesus of Valdosta Say to Donald Trump?
• Washington Post (Feb. 29, 2016): Why Exit Pollsters Desperately Need to Get Religion
• Sojourners (Feb. 24, 2016): Religious Worship is Political
• Reflections (Jan.-Mar. 2016): wrote seven daily devotionals
• Religion News Service (Dec. 2, 2015): Why I Will Provide a Christian Moral Witness at the Paris Climate Conference
• Baptist Times (Feb. 5, 2015): Nigerian Baptists React to Kerry’s Visit Ahead of Election
• Baptist World (Oct.-Dec. 2014): Middle Eastern Baptists Share Fears, Hopes as Minority Faith
• Baptist World (Oct.-Dec. 2013): Sam Sharpe, Jamaican Revolutionary Hero
• Baptist World (Oct.-Dec. 2013): Guiding Document on Intra-Baptist Relations Ratified
• WMRA’s “The Spark” (Sept. 10, 2012): Interview with Lenny Jordan.
• Bark (Sept. 2012): Dog’s breathing [poem].
• Communication Currents (Oct. 1, 2011): Destroying a Church Building to Advance Free Speech Rights
• CNN (Sept. 14, 2011): Don’t Be Fooled by Candidates’ God Talk
• Harrisonburg Daily News-Record (Mar. 15, 2011): King Hearings Creating Division
• Christian Ethics Today (Winter 2010): Some Baptists Echo “Lie of the Year”
• Houston Chronicle (Sept. 11, 2010): Kennedy Speech Eloquently Balanced Religion, Politics
• WMRA’s “Civic Soapbox” (Sept. 10, 2010): James Madison and Religious Liberty for All
• Birmingham News (May 31, 2010): Roy Moore’s Fate Should Serve as a Warning About Movements
• Roanoke Times (May 5, 2010): Preaching True Religious Freedom
• WMRA’s “Civic Soapbox” (Jul. 31, 2009): Unconstitutional Religious Tests for Political Office
• Virginian-Pilot (May 27, 2009): No Liberty at Liberty U.
• Roanoke Times (May 8, 2009): A Disingenuous Attack Against McAuliffe
• Religion Dispatches (August 6, 2008): Religious Right Prays for ‘Good’ Rain Over Obama
• Religion Dispatches (May 27, 2008): American Idol(atry): McCain-as-Jesus
• Columbia Missourian (May 14, 2008): Evangelicals’ Ties Should be to Bible
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch (May 12, 2008): Stop Stereotyping Evangelicals
• Religion Dispatches (Apr. 10, 2008): Stop Playing Politics with Prayer
• Columbia Tribune (Feb. 19, 2008): Missouri’s Evangelicals Stereotyped
• New Baptist Covenant. (Feb. 1, 2008): Medical Professionals Urge Congregational Health Advocacy
• New Baptist Covenant. (Feb. 1, 2018): Mainstream Baptists Hear Shurden, Honor Lolley
• New Baptist Covenant. (Jan. 31, 2008): Give Students a Cause Worthy of Their Devotion, Panelists Urge
• Kansas City Star (Dec. 20, 2007): Keep Congress Away from Holy Days
• Boone County Democrat (Dec. 2007): Weighing in on Civic Engagement
• SojoMail (May 19, 2006): The Prom, Camels, and Stephen Colbert
• Mainstream Messenger (Oct. 13, 2003): California Dreaming
• Mainstream Messenger (Sept. 2003): SBC, CBF, BWA, and Billiards
• And several items as student journalist in Omnibus and SBU Forensic Journal