Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Repetition again
By John Pierce Here we go again: Stomping and stumbling our way through Lent. Choosing the rocky, rugged, narrow path of introspection and confession. Why? For one, we know where it all leads. But doing it all again...
When Ministers Ignore Ethical Boundaries
I was serving as interim pastor of a small congregation and working with their search committee as they sought a new pastor. The committee asked me to make some contacts related to one particular candidate. I made...
Homeless Ministries Begin with Dignity, Respect
Grady was sitting in a rocking chair in the church nursery, holding a stuffed animal in his hands, with tears streaming down his face. It was the only quiet place available. "It's all gone. I'm 58 years old, and it's...
Faith Leaders Shrug at Critical Immigration Ruling
A Baptist ethicist asked how faith leaders would respond to a U.S. federal judge halting President Obama's executive order on immigration. "Will they hide behind legal complexity? Give moral critique? Do biblical...
February 23, 2015
Scott Walker Hardens Tone on Social Issues to Woo Christian Conservatives (New York Times) Young Evangelical Leader Loses Book Deal After Coming Out as Queer (TIME) Historic Wilson County, TN, Church Destroyed by Fire...
February 21, 2015
Group Wants Apology from North Dakota House Republicans for Canceling Prayer from Muslim (Fox News) Oklahoma Republicans, Denying Church State Separation, Seek to Ban AP History as Unpatriotic (RT) Baptist Church Uses...
News journal to honor Bill Leonard with Judson-Rice Award April 24
Please join us for the 15th annual Judson-Rice Award Dinner honoring church historian Bill Leonard. The event will begin at 6pm on Friday, April 24, at Bridger Field House at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem,...
Why Christians Should Support ICC’s Investigation
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is investigating alleged crimes committed in the occupied Palestinian territories since June 2014. Israel condemned this move. Hamas welcomed it, even though its actions will also...
Survey: U.S. Worship Attendance Highest in South, Lowest in Northeast
States in the southern U.S. registered significantly higher weekly worship attendance than states in the northeast and northwest. Utah had the highest weekly worship attendance in 2014 at 51 percent, according to a...
Taking Our Role as Co-Creators Seriously
Joan Chittister's "The Monastery of the Heart" provides much wisdom about our need to care for and preserve creation. Her reflections in a chapter called "Co-Creation" are particularly insightful and needed in a world...
February 20, 2015
Obama Calls for Expansion of Human Rights to Combat Extremism (New York Times) Atlanta's Former Fire Chief Sues the City, Says He Was Fired Because of Religious Beliefs (Washington Post) Rob Bell's Gay Marriage...
Who’s among the Baptists?
Stanley Hauerwas is not a Baptist, but sometimes he acts like one -- often by criticizing them -- and some of his targets have appreciated the feedback. Hauerwas, the Gilbert T. Rowe Emeritus Professor of Divinity and...
Young Adults Must Step Up into Church Leadership
Younger adults – people from 18 to 35 years old – have a bad reputation in many circles. "Kids these days," people say, "don't take responsibility, and they don't know how to work hard." Sometimes this criticism is...
When Choosing Churches, Brand Loyalty Has Little Sway
My wife and I have had our insurance with the same company for 30 years. My parents have had their insurance with the same company for 50 years. We are loyal customers. We don't compare prices. We are satisfied with...
What All Faith Groups Can Do to End ISIS
At one point on my recent trip to the Middle East, a U.S. Army chaplain said to me with tears in his eyes, "We are at the beginning of something like the Protestant Reformation, and Father Nabil Haddad is like Martin...
February 19, 2015
Facing Death: How Religion Matters (Huffington Post) Frequent Church Attendance Highest in Utah, Lowest in Vermont (Gallup) President Obama Says ISIS 'Not Religious Leaders, They are Terrorists' (ABC News) Religious...
How Lent Calls You to Pay Attention to Life
Lent is the remembrance of and participation in the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness where he fasted and prayed for 40 days before beginning his public ministry (Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13). The...
Do Religious-Based Groups Discriminate Against Atheists?
I have read many newspaper columns complaining that atheists are unjustly discriminated against when they are excluded by nonchurch organizations, such as Alcoholics Anonymous and the Boy Scouts. Two specific cases...
The Two Most Dangerous Words Spoken in Church
Two of the most dangerous words in a minister's vocabulary are, "Yes, but…" These are also two of the most destructive words a congregation will ever utter. The order of their utterance is important. First we say,...
The Kindest Way for Churches to Destroy People
I was prompted to rethink my own presuppositions about stewardship after reading Ron Sider's probing book, "Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving from Affluence to Generosity," several years ago. More recently, I...
Remembering a Baptist Missionary as Heroic Humanitarian in War
The man and the war are mostly forgotten. The war cost upward of 2 million civilian lives in less than three years, many from starvation and others from government aircrafts bombing civilian targets. The man was a...