Chutes and ladders

Friday Roundup for April 17, 2026

Remember the classic children’s board game called Chutes and Ladders? It’s a simple game where all the players are trying to get from the bottom of the board to the top of the board to win the match. But along the way there are some squares you hit that are chutes that send you backward and there are some that are ladders that let you skip ahead. Obviously, you want to land on the ladders and avoid the chutes.

It’s a fun way to teach kids about the ups and downs of life. Not really a game to teach responsibility, though. This game’s more about good luck — or fate, if you believe in predestination.

In real life, sometimes we end up on wrong paths and need to take the nearest available chute to get back to a better starting point. I’ve been thinking about that a lot this last week as we’ve seen an unusual number of Trump supporters and Trump reality deniers jump off the Trump Train down the nearest available chute.

Here’s part of a really gracious email I received from a Southern Baptist pastor friend this week: “I try to admit it when I’m wrong, so I’m announcing that I’m jumping off of the Trump train. Your warnings, which I scoffed at, are now coming to pass before my very eyes. I now see that he’s a wicked, pathetic excuse of a man. I’d like to see the 25th invoked, but Vance is just as bad.”

“Your warnings, which I scoffed at, are now coming to pass before my very eyes. I now see that he’s a wicked, pathetic excuse of a man.”

My conservative pen pal isn’t ready to vote for any Democrat, he said, but he realizes he climbed the wrong ladder with Trump. In my book, that’s progress.

He’s not alone. Other evangelical leaders also denounced Trump over the AI-generated image of him as Jesus.

I’ve also been shocked at seeing quite a few Baptist pastors who have kept their heads down and tried not to offend church members suddenly come out with bold statements about the president’s blasphemy.

For example, Jeff Warren is pastor of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, a church that once upon a time helped launch the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship but now eschews all national denominational groups and claims affiliation only with the Baptist General Convention of Texas (more on them in a moment).

This is a wealthy tall-steeple church with a mix of Republicans and Democrats in the pews.

Warren posted this on Facebook: “On Easter Sunday (the most sacred day of the year for those us who proclaim Jesus as our Risen Lord), the president of the United States posted a profanity-laced message that threatened what amounted to war crimes against the Iranian people. Later he came after Pope Leo who (like every pope before him) was calling for peace and added that ‘a delusion of omnipotence’ was driving the war.”

Then he linked to the AI-generated image Trump shared of him as Jesus healing a man.

“This picture epitomizes what some of us have been warning the American church about for years. Christian nationalism, and white Christian nationalism in particular, is the greatest barrier to the true gospel in America today. This is a blatant display of idolatry and a mockery of our Lord Jesus Christ. The conflation of political power and the church is not the kingdom of God. There are times when those of us who have been entrusted by God with the gospel should not be silent. I know many of you are infuriated by this, and if Christ is Lord of your life, you should be.”

Warren rightly pointed out the problem with “the silence of Christian leaders in the face of such blasphemy.” He invited others to join him in renouncing Christian nationalism and, by extension, Trump.

“I’m sure he caught hell from some of his Trump-supporting members for that post, but he also was applauded by others for a bold witness.”

I’m sure he caught hell from some of his Trump-supporting members for that post, but he also was applauded by others for a bold witness. I agree. Bravo to this “purple church” pastor for drawing a line he won’t cross.

One person I know has proposed that what we’re seeing now is a whole lot of people who have been desperately searching for an exit ramp from the Trump Show and are latching on to this obvious blasphemy as the chute they needed.

And I’m fine with that. Anything that can make this horror stop is a step in the right direction.

I mean, even Ed Young, pastor of Fellowship Church in Dallas, posted a video calling Trump to account for blasphemy. Never thought I’d see that.

Rick Pidcock explains why this one AI-generated post is the last straw for quite a few folks.

Of course, the president’s usual sycophants keep climbing the ladder higher and higher. Chief among those is Franklin Graham, whose devotion to Trump defies imagination. At least this time, Adam Kinzinger took Graham’s defense of Trump apart piece by piece. That’s a good read.

Amid all this, Trump has picked a fight with Pope Leo. Vice President JD Vance has picked up the fight as well, trying to school the pope on Catholic theology and separate it from politics. Which is stupidly ironic, because Vance wants to coopt theology as a political weapon. Even Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, a Southern Baptist, has gotten involved in this charade.

Others who have not climbed the Trump ladder remain vigilant in sounding the alarm, especially now. Among those is William Barber, who this week declared: “We need the moral courage to stand where Pope Leo stood this morning when he said, ‘I am not afraid. I do not fear the Trump administration.’” At another event, Barber said Trump has a “God complex.”

Things are so nutty right now that Marjorie Taylor Greene is the voice of repentance for empowering Trump, says Bill Leonard.

Greg Jarrell responded to Trump and Vance and Johnson by reminding them yes, the pope is, in fact, a politician.

David Gushee says Trump’s attack on Pope Leo has made an argument over values into a personal dispute. But the issue between the two men is not a personal dispute. It is instead a powerful illustration of the value of a moral tradition when brought to bear on transgressions against it.

Trump’s pronouncements these days are so outrageous that it would be a form of parody if it were not for the fact that he is commander in chief of the most powerful army in the world, says Jonathan Kuttab. He calls this “insanity in the name of God.”

There was some good news this week, too, from Hungary.

Rodney Kennedy says the defeat of Viktor Orban in Hungary holds promise for America. In one way, Orban’s demiseis a lesson in Political Science 101: Political leaders, even in a quasi-democracy, can’t beat a bad economy. Trump should pay attention, he says. The economy always beats culture wars for attention.

Meanwhile, the advance of Christian nationalism in America continues unabated.

Shock jock preacher Mark Driscoll will be one of the preachers at Trump’s “Rededicate 250” event on the National Mall May 17, he said in an email to supporters.

The idea that the U.S. Constitution promotes separation of church and state is patently untrue, according to the chair of President Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

Michael Chancellor says Patrick must have skipped U.S. History classes.

Michael Friday makes a 10-point case for why there is nothing Christian about American nationalism.

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And another week with Baylor University in the news. By the way, I used to describe Baylor as the nation’s largest Baptist-affiliated university but that’s not technically true anymore. Liberty University wins that title these days based on enrollment, but its Baptist roots are quite different from Baylor’s.

And therein lies part of the rub. Once upon a time, it was easy to distinguish between the politics and theology of these two Baptist schools. Liberty was founded in fundamentalism and Baylor was founded in Baptist freedom. But critics see Baylor is capitulating to fundamentalist influences. Baylor’s defenders see things differently, believing the Texas school remains “centrist.”

That’s part of what’s behind the ongoing drama over Baylor allowing a Turning Point USA event on campus next week and the subsequent approval for a counter-event that will feature two prominent gay Christian speakers.

For those of you who may be scratching your heads over all this drama, let me summarize this way: Had Baylor administrators not approved the TPUSA event, they would not have been backed into a corner and forced to allow the counter event. But in the current political context in which the far right is accusing Baylor of being “woke,” administrators would have caught hell had they stood up to the fascism of TPUSA.

From the outside, it’s easy to say this is because Baylor has walked the line too long and now the line is on fire and too fragile to hold.

Allowing TPUSA on campus gave LGBTQ advocates a perfect opening to claim free-speech discrimination, and they were right.

Now we’re in a tit-for-tat argument when the right gets a concession that requires a concession to the left, the right claims they’re being violated. Meanwhile, those caught in the crossfire keep calling themselves the “centrists.”

As I’ve written before, “centrist” is always a self-defined label. In the minds of too many, being a “centrist” in Texas means eschewing both the Southern Baptist Convention and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship as polar opposites and identifying with the Baptist General Convention of Texas as a safe harbor. That assumes the BGCT is in the center, and it is not.

The self-described center in Texas is to say you affirm women in ministry (whether you actually do so in practice or not) and disaffirm LGBTQ inclusion. Sorry, folks, that is not the center of American Christianity. You cannot be a centrist while still empowering Christian nationalism and racism, for example. And you cannot claim to support women in ministry while distancing yourself from Baptist Women in Ministry, as some at Baylor do.

With all that long setup, consider now that the BGCT is upset that Baylor will allow two gay Christian speakers at the counter-event. Read about that here. Never mind that Texas Baptists had no complaint about Donald Trump Jr., Tom Homan and other TPUSA right-wingers speaking on campus.

And if that wasn’t enough for one week’s news cycle, Baylor’s provost announced her retirement amid what’s clearly a pressured exit. Read my analysis piece on what Nancy Brickhouse’s departure means. Hint: It’s all related to that refused Baugh Foundation grant.

I’ll be in Waco next week for both the TPUSA event and the “All Are Neighbors” event. So stay tuned.

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In other news this week:

A federal court ruled the Trump administration may continue to prioritize Somali asylum seekers for deportation while a lawsuit against the practice continues.

Conservatives were “inches from losing the Southern Baptist Convention” before the “conservative resurgence,” Al Mohler told SBC President Clint Pressley in a new podcast where they say there’s no biblical basis for women to have a seat at the pastoral table.

Pastors for Texas Children, a statewide advocacy group that has become a national movement, will give its founding executive director to the national movement and seek a new state leader.

Two ministry leaders from Colorado Springs qualified Saturday for the top two spots in June’s primary to determine the Republican candidate for Colorado governor in November’s election.

The second stop on Turning Point USA’s “This Is the Turning Point” college tour didn’t go so well April 14. Erika Kirkcancelled her appearance at her own organization’s event, citing security concerns, but U.S. Vice President JD Vance attended and spoke.

A new report by human and immigrant rights groups documents horrific conditions and treatment of families at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center located about 70 miles south of San Antonio, Texas.

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In other analysis and opinion this week:

Stan Hastey says whatever its specious rationales and eventual outcomes, one underlying fact about the war in Iran is clear: What is largely fueling this dangerously combustible conflict is essentially a clash of fundamentalisms — Islamic, Jewish and Christian.

Josh Olds reflects on the changes in Americans’ perceptions of the Space Race over time and the role evangelicals have played in that. The question now is whether the U.S. will continue to value cooperation.

Basil Dannebohm gives us a line-by-line breakdown of the cuts proposed in Trump’s 2027 budget request to Congress.

Carson Hollis tells the heartbreaking tale of a Palestinian girl caught in the crossfire of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza and how her story was immortalized on film.

Dwight Moody wrote a lovely tribute to Pastor Jeremy Shoulta, who died last Sunday of cancer.

Greg Garrett interviews John Fugelsang, author of the New York Times bestselling book The Separation of Church and Hate, about Turning Point USA and all the latest Trump administration news.

Rodney Kennedy reviews the new book Why Didn’t Evangelicals “See Him Coming”? and concludes that, yes, we do need yet another Trump book.

Mahan Siler has some observations on preaching from both sides now.

Brad Bull witnessed an unexpected lesson in the parking lot at Buc-ee’s.

A final word

This weekend I’m attending the Alliance of Baptists annual gathering in Evanston, Ill. We’ll have reports from there over the weekend and first of next week. The event is off to a good start with an opening message by Michael Woolf,pastor of the host church, Lake Street Church, and now a national figure in the resistance to ICE cruelty. Lots to tell you about soon.

Mark Wingfield
Executive Director and Publisher
Baptist News Global