Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
June 26, 2015
Jeffery Haggray to Lead American Baptist Home Missions (Baptists Today) Rob Nash Named Interim Dean at McAfee (Baptist News Global) California Vaccine Bill Would Ban Religious Belief Exemptions (CNN) Confederate Flag...
How Can We Address Our Epidemic of Fear?
Many voices have spoken with profound eloquence in response to our latest reminder of how the deranged anger of one person can erupt in unbelievable violence. These voices have helped me see and believe that such...
4 Ways Pope Calls Us to Reimagine Creation
Some forms of moral reasoning in "Laudato Si" are unsurprising. A sketch of the efficiency of recycling in the food chain is deployed as a natural law argument against wasteful human living in section 22; the climate...
Southern Baptist Leaders Join Growing Tide against Confederate Flag
Southern Baptist leaders have joined politicians and corporations who have suddenly changed course this week by publicly opposing the Confederate battle flag. The shift against the flag comes in the aftermath of a...
June 25, 2015
At the AME Church, the Bible Study Goes On (USA Today) Federal Hate Crime Charges Likely in South Carolina Church Shooting (New York Times) Why the AME Church Massacre is an Assault on the Fabric of Black Life...
It’s about time
Lawmakers across the southeast are scrambling to remove the Confederate battle flag from capitol grounds and automobile tags, all motivated by a bigoted young white man's hateful murders of nine black persons who had...
Charleston Church Shows What Forgiveness Looks Like
One of Jesus' lasting sayings from the cross is recorded in Luke 23:34. "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." He could have been referring to those Roman soldiers who were carrying out their...
4 Ways Churches Meet Syrian Refugees’ Spiritual Needs
Many churches in Lebanon are providing assistance including food, blankets, clothing or education to refugees, most of whom are from Syria. They also engage refugees in a variety of other social and religious...
Pope Offers Clear Biblical Mandate to Care for Creation
Pope Francis has written an exhaustive encyclical to all the churches of the Roman Catholic communion, "Laudato si', mi' Signore" (Praise be to you, my Lord). He affirms that all species give glory to God, who cares...
June 24, 2015
Funeral Plans for South Carolina Church Shooting Victims (ABC News) S.C. Sons of Confederate Veterans on Charleston Shooting (Charleston City Paper) Battle Over South Carolina Flag Unfurls in South Carolina and Beyond...
Randall Lolley’s gifts — and ours
By John Pierce Those blessed to know Randall Lolley as seminary president, pastor, visionary leader and/or friend are aware of his many gifts. One is his insightful and effective communication of the Gospel. Now the...
June 23, 2015
Charleston Chants 'Take it Down' to Lawmakers (KMBC) Charleston: Governor, Senators Join in Saying Confederate Flag Must Go (CNN) Charleston Church Defiant in Wake of Shooting Tragedy (Boston Globe) Obama Heading to...
Few Baptist Voices Join Global Discussion on Papal Encyclical
Pope Francis released last week a much-anticipated encyclical on the environment, which he titled "Laudato Si" (or "Praised Be"). Some Baptists offered their opinions on the document and its potential impact. Many...
Author Finds American Dream Fading for Millions
"Bowling Alone" and "American Grace" famously brought author Robert Putnam and wide readerships together. Social scientists of some sorts often alienate audiences and readerships when they choose to speak or write in...
Racism’s Wound Still Painfully Open, Needs Healing
I grew up in metropolitan Atlanta in the 1960s and 1970s, which was, of course, the hometown of Martin Luther King Jr. When I was in elementary school, news about his work, about the hopes it inspired, and about the...
Protecting Your Church in Charleston Aftermath
Through the actions of one reprehensible person, our nation has been reminded that evil is alive and well. Understandably, this unconscionable act of killing nine people during a Bible study at Emanuel African...
5 Observations from Pope’s Encyclical on Creation Care
In the most widely anticipated and publicized papal encyclical to date, Pope Francis has urged Catholics as well as all of humanity to make creation care a priority. The encyclical is wide ranging, speaking boldly...
Tweets Spread Word of Untold Story at Ethics Luncheon
When the first documentary preview of "Genocide 66" ended, a former Southern Baptist missionary to West Africa, Steve Seaberry, said to a luncheon colleague that he had never heard the story. The untold story - to...
June 22, 2015
Night of S.C. Killings Started with Prayers and a Plot Against Humanity (Washington Post) After Tragic Shooting, Charleston Church Reopens With Prayer, Songs, Tears (Washington Post) 16th Street Baptist Church Prays...
Pastoral words
By John Pierce Ministers across the nation this morning are offering pastoral words of hope, challenge and peace following the horrific, hate-driven murders of nine participants in a Charleston, S.C., Bible study....
June 20, 2015
Charleston Church Shooting Suspect Confesses, Says He Sought Race War (CNN) Steeped in Racial History, Charleston Ponders its Future (New York Times) Why South Carolina's Confederate Flag Isn't at Half-Staff After...