Last week I put the LGBTQ movement and the Christian Nationalist movement “in the dock” to evaluate the nature of the love each professes. Today, I put my first book, The Politics of Loving God, in the dock. My purpose is to see if there can be any such thing as a “politics of love.” Many who have read it may be surprised by my critique of the book.

Legislation pending in Tennessee (Senate Bill 1/House Bill 1) and in several other politically conservative states will pit these two seemingly disparate and rival movements against each other. But I increasingly believe the two have something in common that is seriously wrong. I think both deserve closer inspection, and perhaps the best benchmark for starting that inspection is the LGBTQ movement’s catchphrase, “love is love.”

I received two communications this week—one from a pastor upset over yet another drag queen show in our state and one about an over-the-top FBI raid of a Catholic pro-life advocate’s home. I see these situations as the harbingers of a counter-revolution that has long been coming. History tells me it will be glorious. You and I have the opportunity lay the foundation for it.

According to the Daily Wire, “Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Lee has called for an investigation of the Pediatric Transgender Clinic at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) after shocking videos posted by Matt Walsh detailed a doctor’s promotion of ‘big money maker’ transgender surgeries.” The legislature declined to address this last year, but if it wants to do so this year, the legislation must be developed to withstand two huge constitutional hurdles.

I got a call this week from the U.S.A. Today network wanting my take on the appropriate content for family life (sex education) curriculum and a different media call wanting comment on a drag queen show at a museum in Memphis. I am also getting emails urging opposition to the Respect for Marriage Act passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and soon coming up for a vote in the Senate. These issues are inextricably intertwined, and my question is this: Has the Church has lost the moral high ground by which to speak authoritatively and convincingly to them?

With campaign mailers now flooding my mailbox, I couldn’t help but think back twenty-eight years to my first political race. I was running for the Tennessee Senate in a Republican primary against a 26-year incumbent. I learned then that endorsements, whether by organizations or persons, are important in primaries. However, they are increasingly unhelpful. I hope what follows will help you evaluate the state legislative candidates in the upcoming Republican primary.

It is “Pride Month” for those who believe in the LGBTQ community’s understanding of human identity and dignity. Many in the conservative evangelical community who know what the Bible says about pride condemn even the concept of celebrating pride, let alone what those with an LGBTQ belief system celebrate. For me, though, it was cause to think more deeply about my pridefulness and the protestant version of the gospel dominate in evangelicalism today. If you dare read, please hang with me to the end, because what follows may not be pleasant. 

I was an elected Republican. I will vote for a particular Republican candidate over a Democrat assuming I choose to vote in that candidate’s race at all. But how should Christians respond to the recent news that the Republican National Committee (or at least its Chair) announced a coalition with a “politically conservative” Gay Pride organization? Here’s my answer.

Many Christian political conservatives have been touting their success in passing bills protecting biological girls from competing in high school sports against transgendered persons and preventing hormone therapy for minors. This week, federal district court judges held unenforceable a law on the former in West Virginia and on the latter in Arkansas. For the following reasons, I believe enacting these bills is an exercise in futility.

In June, the United States Supreme Court held in Bostock v. Clayton County that transgender ideology, namely, the principle that sex is not biological but a subjective mental state, was infused into the word “sex” found in Title XII of the 1964 civil rights law that applies to organizations with 15 or more employees. This week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit took the next step, extending the Supreme Court’s “gender ideology” to countless public and private schools and colleges. Here are the hard questions this new decision raises.