John Blake - Senior Writer, CNN Digital
John Blake
Senior Writer, CNN Digital
John Blake is a native of Baltimore, Maryland, and writes about religion, race relations, politics and other topics for CNN Digital.
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Latest
These ‘miraculous survivors’ weathered plane crashes, shark attacks and other deadly disasters. They weren’t prepared for what came next
Jul 15, 2025
We marvel at “miraculous survivors” like Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, the lone survivor of last month’s Air India disaster. But while some experience a spiritual transformation, others struggle for the rest of their lives.
Prophecy, not politics, may also shape America’s clash with Iran
Jun 29, 2025
President Trump’s decision to bomb Iran may not be shaped just by politics. It may also be influenced by a controversial set of doomsday Christian prophecies that could push America’s clash with Iran into dangerous directions.
He once rebuked billionaires for not paying enough taxes. Now this historian says we need ‘moral ambition’ to fight tyranny
Jun 14, 2025
Historian Rutger Bregman argues in a new book that people should aspire to “moral ambition” — a mix of idealism and ruthless pragmatism — to make the world a better place.
‘Pawprints on my heart’: When bonding with a pet becomes a religious experience
Jun 8, 2025
For many people, living with a pet can be a religious experience. Many pet owners say their furry friends are not mere companions — they are “partners in a spiritual journey.”
The Pentagon’s DEI purge ignores lessons from America’s biggest military disasters
May 28, 2025
The Trump administration is trying to purge DEI efforts from the US military. But many of America’s biggest military blunders occurred because there wasn’t enough diversity in the armed forces.
There’s a chilling undercurrent to ‘Sinners’ that critics have missed
May 16, 2025
Darkened theaters showing the movie “Sinners” are among the few public spaces left in America where Black people feel free to express their horror at the head-spinning changes in the country’s racial landscape.
How Pope Francis’ progressive legacy changed the church
Apr 22, 2025
Pope Francis didn’t affirm same-sex marriage or lobby for ordaining women as priests. But he gently steered the Catholic Church in a more progressive direction while leading with compassion, openness and humility.
Before Easter became a holy day, it was the beginning of the Resistance
Apr 20, 2025
Belief in the resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of the Christian faith. But the miracle of Easter didn’t end there. What happened afterward was just as improbable – and offers a blueprint for contemporary resistance movements.
Why some say an anti-Nazi pastor executed by Hitler has become a hero to today’s White Christian nationalists
Apr 13, 2025
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed by the Nazis 80 years ago this week for supporting a plot to kill Hitler. Now his legacy is being drawn into another battle: the ongoing debate over White Christian nationalism.
What happened to the funk?
Apr 8, 2025
A new documentary examines the golden age of funk music, when large, often interracial bands lay down syncopated grooves that packed dance floors. John Blake says that today’s pop music, largely stitched together in digital snippets, lacks that communal spirit.
The Supreme Court case that ended the dream of racially integrated schools in America
Mar 12, 2025
The Supreme Court’s most enduring ruling on race is not 1954’s Brown vs. Board of Education but a 1974 decision, Milliken v. Bradley, which torpedoed a plan that would have integrated public schools. A new book looks at how it’s still shaping American classrooms today.
Author Ibram X. Kendi on DEI, America’s ‘progression of racism’ and his new book on Malcolm X
Mar 1, 2025
Ibram X. Kendi, the antiracist scholar, talks to CNN about his upcoming new book on Malcolm X, the recent “racist progress” in America and what today’s demoralized antiracists can learn from Malcolm’s example.
What MLK knew that today’s progressives keep forgetting
Jan 19, 2025
Sixty years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s social justice movement was facing overwhelming obstacles, including a White backlash to Black progress. But King did something that eludes many of today’s leaders on the left: He crafted a message that reached all types of Americans.
White Christian nationalists are poised to remake America in their image during Trump’s second term, author says
Jan 12, 2025
Donald Trump’s second term will empower the White Christian nationalist movement, says scholar Kristin Kobes Du Mez, author of “Jesus and John Wayne.” “It will transform our government,” she says. “They have seen their movement go mainstream, and now they have incredible access to power.”
Jimmy Carter embodied the ‘road not taken’ by many White evangelical Christians
Dec 31, 2024
As the world pays homage to former President Jimmy Carter, some people overlook a primary source of inspiration for his politics: his distinctive brand of White evangelical Christianity, which remains hidden from most Americans.
Her surprise bestseller offers a holiday message Americans need to hear
Dec 21, 2024
In her new bestseller, “The Small and The Mighty,” Sharon McMahon highlights the fortitude of little-known American heroes who changed their country. “The best Americans are not always famous,” she wrote. “They are the people who went for broke when everyone else yelled turn back.”
About
John Blake is a native of Baltimore, Maryland, and writes about religion, race relations, politics and other topics for CNN Digital. He has won first-place writing awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, the American Academy of Religion, the Associated Press, GLADD and the Religion Communicators Council.
Blake also is the author of a memoir, “More Than I Imagined: What a Black Man Discovered About the White Mother He Never Knew.” It received a Christopher Award, which honors books that affirm the highest values of the human spirit. His memoir was also a gold medal winner in the Nonfiction Book Awards; a gold medal winner in the inspiration category in the Illumination Book Awards; and a gold medal in the Nautilus Book Awards, which recognizes books that promote social change and spiritual growth. He was also awarded a Georgia Author of The Year Award in 2024.
Blake’s first book, “Children of the Movement,” was a finalist in the NAACP Image Awards in the Outstanding Literary Work Nonfiction category. He is a graduate of Howard University.
