Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Consumer Finance Bureau Notes Online Payday Loans’ Hidden Costs
Bank penalty fees and closed accounts are common, hidden costs of online payday loans, according to a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report. A consumer who receives an online payday loan provides their bank...
The Earth is Not Ours to Do with As We Please
My church observed Earth Stewardship Sunday recently by singing hymns and offering prayers that honored God as Creator. We were even reminded during communion that the bread and wine are gifts of the earth provided by...
How the Cross Fixes Us
Every morning since Ash Wednesday, I've driven up to the church and looked at the cross sitting in the front yard. Some mornings, I've stopped to post the obligatory "draped cross" image to Instagram. Most mornings...
How Christians Can Change Culture. (Hint: It’s Not Politics)
When Mitt Romney lost the presidential election in 2012, many disappointed supporters - including a number of evangelicals - suggested that his defeat spoke to an American culture in decline. For politics to change,...
Follow the Crucified: An Interfaith Easter Reflection – Part 2
In the immediate as well as broader canonical contexts of the Quran, if it were not for the extensive exegetical tradition of Islam, verse 157 of SÅ«rat Ä€l-Ê¿ImrÄn (SÅ«ra 4) would be understood simply as another piece...
Half Million in U.S. Remain Homeless, Report Says
Nearly 565,000 people were among the U.S. homeless identified during a one-night count in January 2015, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness' (NAEH) 2016 State of Homelessness report. Sixty-nine...
April 20, 2016
Tennessee Governor Haslam Tries to Convince Legislators to Drop Bible Bill (Nashville Public Radio) St. John Cantius Chosen as America's Most Beautiful Church (Chicago Tribune) Massachusetts Church Being Moved to Make...
Counting the Spiritual Reach of Your Church
For many years the primary way of measuring church size was to look at church membership. In Baptist churches, we began to track Sunday school attendance as a measuring stick. Membership numbers are not really helpful...
Follow the Crucified: An Interfaith Easter Reflection – Part 1
My father worked for the Bible Society in Lebanon for most of his life, serving as its general secretary for more than 25 years. Growing up, several of my summers were spent in the distribution of biblical literature...
Highly Religious Americans: Happier, More Family Oriented, Regularly Volunteer
U.S. citizens who are "highly religious" - praying daily and attending religious services weekly - tend to be happier, to spend time with extended family and to volunteer, according to the Pew Research Center. Forty...
April 19, 2016
Murfreesboro's Arabic Baptist Church: A New Chapter (Digital News Journal) Franklin Graham Defends Duck Dynasty's Star for NASCAR Prayer to Elect Christian President (Charlotte Observer) U.K.: Daughter, 20, Left...
Allowing Our Labels to Unite Us, Not Divide Us
In Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There," Alice walked through the "wood of no-names," where individuals didn't remember their own names and had little awareness of qualities that set...
Bethlehem Bible College: Beacon of Peace for Israel-Palestine
Tear gas canisters litter the college grounds. It's a sad but all too familiar sight for students and staff at Bethlehem Bible College (BBC) in Jerusalem. With tear gas coming through the windows and disrupting their...
April 18, 2015
In Indiana, a Baptist Church and a Methodist Church Merge (Lebanon Reporter) Tennessee Republican Legislators Seek Veto Override on Bible as Official State Book (WPSD6) North Carolina Vouchers Head to Religious Schools...
Civil Society Vital to Curb Human Rights Abuses, Fight Terrorism
The strength of civil society has increased globally in recent years, giving "ordinary citizens more power and responsibility" and threatening "governments that wish to monopolize power and evade responsibility." Yet,...
Why You Treat ‘Rest’ Like a Four-Letter Word
Do you remember what spring break was like? How about the joy and freedom of the last day of school? Or that moment when you're getting close to the beach and you roll down the windows so you can feel the ocean breeze...
April 15, 2016
When a Tiny Church Houses Three Religions (Washington Post) Tennessee Governor Vetoes Bill Making Bible Official State Book (ABC News) Christian Therapists Push Back Against Anti-LGBT Tennessee Counseling Bill...
Conflict, Lack of Rain Increase Food Insecurity in South Sudan
Lower rainfall totals, poor harvests, soaring food prices and an economic downturn, coupled with ongoing conflict, have created record levels of food insecurity in South Sudan, according to a U.N. World Food Programme...
What You Can Hear Listening to People’s Faces
On my best days, I am quiet. "You have two ears and one mouth," said my grandpa one day as we walked together down a row of tomatoes. "So you should listen twice as much as you speak. You might learn something if you...
Legislation Won’t Make Us Christian
The prophet Hosea boldly told the people of his day that God was tired of being placated by their symbolic measures of worship. Instead he told them, "I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know...
Is There a “Christian Economics”? Part 2
Christian thinkers support a variety of economic theories as "middle axioms" (whether they call them that or not) for implementing Kingdom ethics within the world that is not yet the Kingdom of God. Some strongly...