Carrie McKean

Substack

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I write for Christianity Today most frequently, but occasionally for other outlets as well, including the New York Times and The Atlantic and The Free Press.

Immigration Stories

Immigration is a topic I think is overly simplified at almost every turn, with real people turned into political pawns by both the left and the right. Here are some of my stories that I hope “complicate the narrative,” whatever your narrative might be… one thing is for sure: there are no easy answers to be found here:

• The Free Press | August 18, 2026 | Texans Revolt Against a Border Wall in the Wilderness
• The Free Press | April 21, 2026 | They Were Ordered Back to Haiti. Then Their Conservative Church Stepped In.
• The Free Press | January 22, 2026 | The Mother Deported Without Her Kids | Download PDF
• Christianity Today | June 11, 2025 | The Injustice of Inconsistency
• Christianity Today | April 16, 2025 | The Model Immigrants in Legal Limbo
• Christianity Today | March 26, 2025 | Immigration’s Complicated Costs for My Town — And My Soul
• The Free Press | March 18, 2025 | The Illegal Immigrants Who Love Trump
• Christianity Today | August 30, 2023 | My Pastor Friend Likes Trump’s Border Policy. He Also Shelters Migrants

Education Series

I often write about education for Christianity Today, exploring nationwide challenges and trends through the lens of what I see happening in my own community, Midland, Texas.

• Are the Public Schools Falling Apart?
• What’s the Point of Education in an Age of AI?
• Teacher Shortages: Welcome Back to School! Does Your Kid Have a Teacher?
• Teacher Profile: The 91-Year-Old Texas Educator Still Following God’s Lead (Download PDF from print magazine.)
• EdTech
  • Part 1: The School Tech Situation is Worse Than You Think
  • Part 2: Death By a Thousand Error Messages
  • Part 3: Turn Toward Each Other and Away From the Screen
• Teaching Math in America:
  • Part 1: I’m Not Being Disrespectful, Mama. I Just Don’t Understand.’
  • Part 2: The Many Factors of America’s Math Problem
  • Part 3: First, Honesty. Then, Multiplication Tables.

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Other Work

Here are some of my other personal favorites essays and reported pieces through the years:

• Christianity Today | October 6, 2025 | The CDC Listened to Vaccine-Hesitant Moms in My Living Room
• Christianity Today | August 11, 2025 | Parched for Political Wisdom
• The New York Times | March 31, 2025 | I Vaccinated My Children. But Here’s Why My Neighbors Don’t | Download PDF
• Christianity Today | October 31, 2024 | The Antidote to Election Anxiety
• Christianity Today | October 10, 2024 | We Have Never Been Deplorable (Book review)
• The Atlantic | November 23, 2022 | My Family Oversimplified My Brother’s Adoption Story (This essay was featured in One Story to Read Today, a newsletter in which Atlantic editors recommend a single must-read article.)
• The Atlantic | January 27, 2022 | First, You Decide That Kids Belong in School
• Texas Monthly | November 29, 2021 | How Refugees From Myanmar Have Embraced Midland – And Its Conservative Politics | Download PDF
• New York Times | May 12, 2021 | Are We Following The Science Or Our Tribes? (This essay also appeared in the May 13, 2021 print edition.) | Download PDF
• New York Times | April 30, 2020 | This ‘Big Oil’ Bust Is Killing My Town | Download PDF

And finally an index of pretty much all my other work that only I would ever find useful…

• The Free Press | March 11, 2026 | The Christian Conservatives Who Don’t Want Prayer Time in Schools | PDF
• The Free Press | August 18, 2025 | The Confederacy Is Great Again at This Texas School | PDF
• Christianity Today | February 11, 2025 | Church in the Antisocial Century
• Christianity Today | Nov/Dec Print Issue | I’m Estranged from My Parents. I Still Love Them.
• Christianity Today | November 22, 2024 | Christ Our King, Come What May
• Christianity Today | August 13, 2024 | An Anxious Generation–of Parents
• Christianity Today | April 22, 2024 | Panic Won’t Protect the Planet
• Christianity Today | May 15, 2024 | The Miracle of the Ear
• Christianity Today | April 16, 2024 | What We Can Offer if We Uncircle the Wagons
• Christianity Today | March 14, 2024 | Bad News May Be a Burning Bush (In honor of my friend Ramon Billhimer.)
• Christianity Today | February 22, 2024 | Like-Minded, Not Like Me
• Christianity Today | December 19, 2023 | Filthy Night, Fetid Night
• Christianity Today | November 21, 2023 | My Unlikely, Cross-Cultural Friendsgiving
• Midland Reporter-Telegram | November 4, 2023 | Midland Needs Healthy Public Schools; Midland Needs this Bond | Download PDF
• Christianity Today | October 24, 2023 | You Can Only Break the News of War so Gently
• Texas Monthly | May 25, 2022 | Amid the Baby Formula Shortage in Midland, Community and Conspiracies
• The Week | March 23, 2022 | Why people fighting for their lives would stop to save a statue
• The Week | March 5, 2022 | On parenting as history starts up again
• Reason | July 11, 2022 | Keeping Americans in the Dark
• The Week | December 25, 2021 | The absurdity and necessity of hope in another COVID Christmas | Download PDF
• Midland Reporter-Telegram | December 31, 2020 | We Were Left With Just Enough
• Texas Monthly | October 20, 2020 | Midland School Discards Its Confederate Name | Download PDF
• Midland Reporter-Telegram | August 9, 2020 | Not Opening Schools Will Be Devastating For Vulnerable Kids