Rhett Burns
Author’s Corner

Are You a Christian Nationalist?
By Rhett Burns Are you a Christian Nationalist? This seems to be the talk soup of the day on Twitter, thanks to threads like this, so let’s weigh in on how to answer. There are some questions that require nuanced and careful answers. For example, asking Are you a...

Rittenhouse, the Right, and Our Evangelistic Opportunity
By Rhett Burns I now rise to offer three cheers and a toast to King Kyle of Kenosha. May you live free and full of years, and may your tribe of bold men, full of courage and action, increase! May your slanderers pay through the nose and your accusers become a stench...

We’re Gaining Ground: Reflecting on the FLF Conference
By Rhett Burns “Shout on, pray on, we’re gaining ground—Glory, hallelujah!” This line is from the American folk hymn I Know That My Redeemer Lives, one of many psalms and hymns we sang last weekend in Lebanon, Tennessee at the most recent Fight Laugh Feast conference....

The End of “BIG”: Decentralization, Opportunity, and the Denominational Future
By Rhett Burns Back in June, I attended my first ever Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. This means that, despite being a lifelong Southern Baptist, Chocolate Knox, a Presbyterian, has taken part—and voted?—in more SBC annual meetings than I have. I’m...

A Ladder, a Bible, and a Preacher: Fighting to End Abortion in South Carolina
By Rhett Burns I went to minister at our local abortion clinic for the first time like a safe and respectable Christian: I showed up to pray outside the entrance as part of the 40 Days for Life campaign last fall. One of the ladies serving at the gate kindly explained...

Book Review: Strong and Courageous
By Rhett Burns Strong and Courageous: Following Jesus Amid the Rise of America’s New Religion by Tom Ascol and Jared Longshore (Founders Press, January 15, 2021) The United States of America is witnessing the ascent of a new religion, characterized by the twin...

2020: The Year of Our Lord
By Rhett Burns America has hashtagged, memed, and bemoaned the year 2020. People have shaken their heads, cracked jokes, complained, and otherwise wished the calendar would change, in hopes their fortunes would change with it. But let me remind you: 2020, for all its...

Fire in the Chest: The Imminent Sexual Reckoning
By Rhett Burns Your house is on fire, but you don’t realize it yet. It’s an electrical fire, tearing through the walls, ready to engulf everything you have. You’re scrolling through Netflix, unaware of the havoc to come in fifteen minutes. This is the situation of...

The America to Come
By Rhett Burns Is it accurate to say that American society has been careening toward a cliff for some time now, and the events of 2020—coronavirus, presidential election, and the social justice riots—have sped it along to the edge? That’s the question I posed to a...

Militant Joy: Reflections on the First FLF Conference
During the live CrossPolitic show recorded at the recent Fight Laugh Feast Conference, Glenn Sunshine described the FLF Network orbit as “militantly joyous.” From what I’ve observed of network show hosts, listeners, conference attendees, speakers, volunteers, and blog...

Donald Trump, Fat Tony, and Elite Evangelical Discourse
By Rhett Burns Donald Trump is an exclamation point, a bolded font, an underscore, an orange highlighter, drawing attention to the fecklessness of conservative leaders. This man—serial adulterer, womanizer, uncouth, proud, foul-mouthed, and greedy—is the man ending...