Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
4 Differences Mark Pre-Easter vs Post-Easter Churches
Easter changes everything. Like no other part of the Christian faith, the story of Easter is at the heart of what makes our faith unique and life-changing. Death is overcome by life. Not even the grave is immune to the...
A Seder Dinner Reminder: Only God Can Free Us
We were honored to be invited to a friend's home for their Seder dinner on the first night of Passover. It was a meaningful and fascinating experience as we read through the Haggadah (readings that guide the Seder meal...
April 21, 2017
How Bill O'Reilly Used Religion to Fuel Fear – and His Show (Washington Post) The Trump Cabinet Has Its Own Weekly Far-Right Bible Study (Fusion) Judge Disputes Claims That His Death Penalty Protest Violated Judicial...
5 reasons to go to Glacier
By John D. Pierce There is still a little time and space for you to participate in a grand adventure we're calling Nurturing Faith Experience: Glacier East-to-West. Here are five of many good reasons to join us August...
Remembering the Holocaust, Vowing to Not Repeat It
Twice a year the Holocaust is recognized and remembered through international observances. January 27 was chosen as International Holocaust Remembrance Day by the U.N. general assembly in 2005 because it is the...
How You Can Become Literate about God’s Creation
The tradition of celebrating Earth Day on April 22 is one of the fruits of "environmental awakening" in the end of the 1960s. Started in 1970 in the United States, it has grown into an international movement with...
Baptists Must Not Be Silent in Calls for Religious Freedom
I had the opportunity to speak to U.S. Sen. John Boozman (R-Arkansas) in Washington, D.C. The experience confirmed for me simple truths about community, about the responsibility we all have to be involved in the...
April 20, 2017
Justices Express Sympathy With Missouri Church at Supreme Court Hearing (Washington Post) BJC's Hollman Responds to Supreme Court Arguments in Church Funding Case (BJC) First the Sticker, Now Yoga: Cobb Schools in...
Profiles in Goodwill: Timothy Olagbemiro
Timothy Olagbemiro is a professor and pioneer vice chancellor of Edwin Clark University in Kiagbodo, Delta State, Nigeria. He served previously as a vice chancellor of Bowen University, the largest Baptist university...
Global Baptists: Barriers to Church Engagement on Environment
Baptists leaders from Europe and the United States recently discussed barriers to church engagement on the environment in an online conversation moderated by EthicsDaily.com. Helle Liht, assistant general secretary of...
Why Do You Need to Talk to People You Disagree With?
Do I really need to talk to people I disagree with? I've been thinking a lot recently about how easy it is for you and me to stop talking to one another when we don't agree, especially now in times like these. And, I'm...
April 19, 2017
Embattled Baylor University Picks New President (Houston Chronicle) Baptist General Convention of Texas Aligns with Groups Seeking to Limit Abortion (Baptist Standard) How a Southern Baptist Church Created a Shelter...
Redeeming Creation: Will We Follow God’s Command?
The alleluias of Resurrection Sunday are still resounding in our ears, and Eastertide comes clothed in spring's finest attire. It is not surprising that tradition has brought the joyous news of our Savior conquering...
3 Ways to Bridge Divides to Advance Common Good
Can Gimli and Legolas help us learn how to bridge divides and advance the common good? If these names are unfamiliar, they are two central characters in J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" series. For context,...
Standing with Muslims is an Act of Christian Witness
A recent private member's bill in Canada's House of Parliament brings to the forefront the challenges and opportunities of living in post-Christendom. Motion M-103 called for the condemnation of "Islamophobia"...
April 18, 2017
Georgia City Where MLK Gave His First Public Speech Unveils Park in His Honor (Macon Telegraph) Racism Motivated Trump Voters More Than Authoritarianism (Washington Post) Ex-Alabama Governor Robert Bentley, Rebekah...
To sift, or not to sift?
Back in 2011, I had the joy of taking participants on the Campbell University Divinity School's bi-annual trip to Israel and the West Bank to spend a few hours volunteering with the Temple Mount Sifting Project, a...
When You See God’s Creative Grandeur on Display
Glacier National Park is one of my favorite places on earth. I've never been anywhere where God's majesty is so clearly on display. And there's one spot in the park that stands out in my mind - Apgar Lookout. It's a...
Global Religious Restrictions Rise in 2015
Religious restrictions and social hostility toward religion worldwide increased slightly in 2015, according to a new report from Pew Research Center. Government restrictions of and social hostilities toward religious...
Political Grime and Punishment: How to Bring Change
I came off of a very productive Lent this past season. My Lent involved fasting from politics - from listening, watching, reading and anything having to do with politics. That was a good exercise. Before Lent, I was up...
April 17, 2017
Christianity Major at Mercer University Morphs into More Inclusive Religious Studies (Mercer Cluster) How the Bible Belt Lost God and Found Trump (Financial Times) Religious Leaders Walk a Careful Line on Politics in...