A small southern town and her monument
**This article is a work in progress and will continue to be updated as a repository of this story about the monument. I do not plan to continually publish articles on this subject but to add to this single article as more information is made available to me. (First published 6/25/20; last updated 9/26/20)** To […]
To Those Who Knock
It was May of 2014. I was staying Memorial Day weekend at All Saints of America Orthodox Church in De Queen, AR. I woke up early Saturday morning to take a day trip. 30 miles in, I was traveling 60mph approaching Broken Bow, OK when my engine started to sputter and the tachometer bounced forebodingly […]
A Faith Worth Reviling
Four years ago, then-future President Donald John Trump gave a speech in Sioux Center, Iowa, that would define not only his presidential campaign but the next four years of his time in office. He could shoot someone in the middle of New York City’s Fifth Avenue, he said, and not lose his supporters. During that […]
Johnny Fencerider, Demon Sperm, and the Real Threat to Freedom of Conscience in America
I had a pastor friend who at one time I considered to be a mentor. Sadly, he proved to be a disappointment both as a friend and as a mentor. I remember as a very young minister standing in the midst of a meeting of the Louisiana Baptist Convention where a crucial vote was to […]
A life etched into the mountains
“Can you tell me what kind it is?” A rock, thrust in my face by my keen-eyed daughter, looked like the kind of shale we’d been examining for the better part of an hour. The front side betrayed three trace fossils, while the obverse held something much clearer – a small but perfectly preserved trilobite. […]
Confederate Monument Brings out the Hate
**This is an abridged version of the full 13,000+ word monument account which can be found here.** In 1812, my great-great-great-grandfather moved with his twenty slaves to east Tennessee. My middle name, Chambers, comes from this side of my family. However, I was raised in California—the son of Civil Rights activist Cruz Reynoso. When I […]
The person my mother thinks I am
My mother is fond of telling me, “Scot you’re David!” The David she has in mind is the biblical one. And when she conflates me and King David, I’m positive she is thinking of the David who is described as being a “man after God’s own heart” and not David the murderer and womanizer. After […]
Dual Citizenship: What Does It Mean to be a Christian and a Citizen of the United States?
One of my Facebook friends posted a rather bizarre photo a couple of years ago. He and his sons professed a fervent evangelical Christian faith and also a strong dedication to the “Tea Party” political ideologies of very limited government and few taxes. They are also strong proponents of constitutional originalism. The picture he posted […]
If we are what we eat, perhaps we should change our diet.
It may be argued there is something in the water we are all drinking, and perhaps something also in the food we are eating. Something is different. This year has unleashed changes that may prove to be revolutionary. A pandemic continues to plague the world, and in the United States, thousands have taken to the […]
Should we topple the white Jesus?
As an Artist, Arts & Religion Scholar, Christian, and Hispanic who has been vocal about racial issues, I immediately started receiving messages and comments from friends about Shaun King‘s recently tweeted argument that statues of white Jesus should be removed. Mr. King’s contention is that they are icons of white supremacy. I both agree and […]