Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
It’s Sunday in Athens
By John D. Pierce This Sunday, Nov. 5, as part of its All Saints’ Day observance, the First Baptist Church of Athens, Ga., will remember its longtime former pastor Jon Appleton who died last November. During that...
Beware Half-Truths That Endanger Our Planet
More carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is good for plants. This argument is asserted in various forms by individuals and groups seeking to diminish the negative impacts of climate change and to push back against any...
Exiting Homelessness Requires an Individual Journey
My daughter and I participated recently in a "Sleep Out" event on the grounds of St James' Church in Piccadilly in London. The event was a fundraiser for my organization, West London Mission, a Methodist nonprofit...
Pollution the Leading Environmental Cause of Death, Illness
The leading environmental cause of death and illness is pollution, according to a report from The Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health published on Oct. 19. "Diseases caused by pollution were responsible for an...
October 31, 2017
White Nationalists Harassed a Tennessee Church to Show that ‘White People are Under Attack’ (Newsweek) Astrophysics, Bible Confirm Earliest Recorded Eclipse (Discover Magazine) Biblical Creation of the World and Story...
Rev it up, Rev …
Day in and day out, I putter in my Prius like geezer, trying to break the 70 miles per gallon barrier. Every now and then, though, a man needs to be near some real horsepower. Welcome to truck racing. Thanks to my...
R. Mitch Randall Named Baptist Center for Ethics Exec Director
The Baptist Center for Ethics' board of directors is pleased to announce R. Mitch Randall as BCE's new executive director. Randall will begin his tenure Jan. 1, 2018, becoming only the second executive director in the...
October 30, 2017
Historic Virginia Church Decides to Remove Plaques Honoring Slaveowners Washington, Lee (Washington Post) White Nationalists Met by Counterprotesters Cancel Second Rally in Tennessee (CNN) GOP Faith Ambassador Quits,...
‘Marshall’
Thurgood Marshall was a civil rights icon. As founder of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, he argued 32 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and won all but three. The most notable may have been Brown v. Board...
The Moral Danger Lurking When You’re Self-Sufficient
A number of years ago, I attended a funeral. The man to whom we were saying goodbye had enjoyed a full and rich life. He'd reached the age of 90 and was respected for having been both successful and honest. But he'd...
October 27, 2017
Jerry Falwell Jr. Encourages Evangelicals to Call Out Fake Republicans (Christian Headlines) Alabama Senate Candidate Used Holocaust Poem to Protest Gay Marriage (Forward) Pence: More Money Will go to Faith-Based Aid,...
How to Respond to Pervasive Sexual Assault Against Women
Recent events have led to a heart-breaking hashtag trending on the internet: #metoo. Women around the world are using this to speak out about the misogynistic or abusive treatment they have received at the hands of...
Why Style Matters When Preaching Against Racism
The style of proclamation is essential when preaching to confront racism, according to William Willimon, a U.S. theologian and bishop in the United Methodist Church. "What is said by the preacher may not be as...
Allowing the Reformation to Fuel Our Deeper Commitment
The church, which is the creation of God's Word and God's Spirit, belongs to God. It is holy, and the holiness of the church stands in contrast to individual and communal sin. Historically, sin, which runs counter to...
Profiles in Goodwill: Trisha Miller Manarin
Trisha Miller Manarin is executive coordinator of the Mid-Atlantic Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, coordinator for the Division on Mission, Evangelism and Justice at the Baptist World Alliance and director of...
‘Our Prayers Are With Them.’ But Are They Really?
It is interesting to notice how commonly political leaders now say - in regard to the victims of something like a natural disaster or the latest mass shooting in the U.S. - that "our prayers are with them." I find...
Do Our Segregated Sundays Reflect True Community?
Some say, "A picture is worth a thousand words." But I would beg to differ when it comes to Internet searches of the word "community." I was shown stock photos, clip art and logos. According to Google, community is...
Is My Example Worth Following?
By: Ginger Hughes Short little legs, with a red rope dragging in the dirt behind them, trailed behind a pair of much longer ones. We were on my Dad’s farm - my youngest’s favorite place to be. And he was with his Papa...
‘Only When It’s Dark Enough Can We See The Stars’
What is happening? This has been a lingering thought as I've scrolled through my newsfeed over the past few months. A white nationalist rally in Virginia. A vehicle driving into a crowd of people, killing one and...
4 Ways Your Sunday School Can Combat Domestic Violence
Anybody who has ever had two or more children consuming food at the same time knows that such moments constitute a recipe for family disaster. Picture a pizza. Picture two kids. Picture one knife. Who will cut? That is...
Civil Society’s Crucial Role to Solve Refugee Crisis
The European refugee situation is settling down. There are no more masses arriving, many procedures are in place, and quarrels over the quota are given to the European Court of Justice to solve. Is the crisis over?...