Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
When Women Stand Together: #SilenceIsNotSpiritual
I stood in a refugee center in the former Yugoslavia in the early '90s, a country destroyed by the bitter hatred that fueled the Balkan War. I listened, heartsick, to stories of mass rapes of hundreds of Bosnian women...
For New Year, Will You Choose Life or Decay?
Ethics has to do with choosing - what we choose, how we choose, why we choose. From the simplest of decisions about daily behaviors to the most comprehensive choices of ideologies that frame our understandings of the...
Why God Isn’t Calling You to Change the World – Part 2
Christians who desire to change or transform the world too often fall into an anthropocentric outlook in which they see themselves as central and as the main actors of social change. Change is possible, evil can be...
January 3, 2018
Meditation is Common Across Many Religious Groups in the U.S. (Pew Research Center) Largest Group of Mennonite Churches Leaves Denomination (RNS) SBC Takeover Leader, Accused of Sexual Abuse, Claims Statute of...
Do You Have the Courage To Be a Change Agent?
An intriguing description of one of Jesus' followers is found in Luke 8:1-4: "Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward or household manager." One can only imagine the conversations held between Joanna and her...
Why God Isn’t Calling You to Change the World – Part 1
The word "transformation" appears on the website of nearly every Christian organization involved in addressing poverty and social injustice. Speak to college students about their aspirations, it would not be unusual to...
What Many Folks Get Wrong About the Bible’s Angels
We have all seen it. You probably saw it in the last few weeks. A child is coaxed onto Santa's lap, and then the child begins screaming and frantically trying to escape. Truth is, some children find a strange loud man...
January 2, 2018
Charlottesville Violence Drives Denver Church to Hold Tough Conversations on Race (NPR) The Top Ten Posts of 2017 (Christianity Today) Evangelical Christianity is Facing a Political Crisis (Salon) Israel:...
What Difference Does Faith Make?
By: Ginger Hughes Organ music fills the sanctuary as voices join together singing, “Silent Night, Holy Night.” Prayers are prayed, and scripture is read. Those familiar verses from Luke detail the most sacred of...
Where everything old is new again . . .
Yikes. That's what I said to myself when I realized I hadn't posted a blog in more than a month: that's what finishing up a semester and the big rush of completing a book can do for you -- along with being determined...
EthicsDaily.com: 2017 in Review, From Grief to Joy
Grief and joy bookended 2017 for me and the Baptist Center for Ethics / EthicsDaily.com. The first quarter of the year saw our staff building on the energy from the fall 2016 release of "The Disturbances" documentary...
Are You Seeking Those Ideal Teachable Moments? Stop!
I've seen many people saying this is a "teachable moment" in U.S. history. By that, they mean it's a time for parents and ministers to seize the day and ensure that we are intentional about talking to the next...
UN: Humanitarian Aid Needs Up in 2016, Funding Down
More than 130 million people needed humanitarian aid assistance in 2016 (up from 125 million in 2015), according to the 2017 edition of the United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)...
December 29, 2017
$2 Million Anonymous Donation Spurs Baptist Church in Florida (Bradenton Herald) Court of Appeals Rules Against Christian Bakers Who Refused Same-Sex Couple’s Request for a Wedding-Cake (The New Civil Rights Movement)...
How a 20th-Century Baptist Aids 21st-Century Churches
If we were to slip back just over a century ago, we would find a certain Baptist just gaining prominence as well as controversy: Walter Rauschenbusch. It is fitting that we gather in April 2018 for a conference to...
5 Trends That Will Challenge Churches Like Yours
Five trends will greatly impact U.S. congregations in the next three years and beyond. None of these is a big surprise. However, it's important to be aware of these and face them courageously. Trend 1: Church...
Gallup: Religious Giving Continues Downward Trend in ’17
Giving to religious organizations declined to 52 percent of U.S. adults in 2017, according to a Gallup report published on Dec. 21. This continues a 12-year trend. In 2005, a high of 64 percent of adults gave to...
Pearl stories
By John D. Pierce The world is less gracious today after the death of Pearl DuVall in Cordele, Ga., yesterday. Everyone needs more mature, mentoring people in their lives who lead by words and deeds. Pearl was one of...
Baptists of the Year: Ellen Di Giosia, First Baptist of Jefferson City
Ellen Di Giosia and First Baptist Church of Jefferson City, Tennessee, are the Baptist Center for Ethics' pick as Baptists of the Year for 2017. Di Giosia and the church represent the best of the Baptist tradition. One...
December 27, 2017
CBF Church Starter Creates Beloved Community in Denver (Baptist News Global) New Orleans Church Becomes Sanctuary for Illegal Immigrant (WGNO) Mexico Native Celebrates Christmas in Ohio Church Sanctuary (Columbus...
BCE Board Member Candy Phillips Dies
Candy Phillips, board member of the Baptist Center for Ethics, died Friday, Dec. 22 in Nashville. Candy Cheri Poole Phillips, 70, passed away after complications from cancer. (Read the obituary in the Tennessean.) "Her...