Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
December 30, 2014
House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, Christian “man of great integrity,” Spoke at White Supremacist Conference (Huffington Post) Jim Henry's Return to Downtown Baptist Orlando Like a Family Reunion (Orlando Sentinel)...
What the Apostle Paul Says about Economic Justice
One voice that's curiously absent from economic conversations among Christians today seems to be the apostle Paul's. I've made a stab at correcting that in a new booklet, for I believe that Paul has something both...
Baptist of the Year: Don Sewell
Don Sewell is EthicsDaily.com's pick as Baptist of the Year for 2014. He is the director of Faith in Action Initiatives (FIA) at Baylor Scott and White Health (BSWH) in Dallas, which has been shipping containers of...
December 29, 2014
Mars Hill Church Holds its Final Sunday Service (King5) “Religious Freedom” Bill Coming to Indiana (Indianapolis Star) Old Downtown Church Restored for Use as Apartments' Community Center (Columbus Dispatch) Egypt Bans...
A ponderous pondering …
The New York Times ran an article by Dennis Overbye this week, posing a question that's not particularly new, but increasingly apropos. As advanced astronomical instruments continue to scan the universe from both earth...
Martin Luther King “ Church Buildings as Political Spaces
Baptist preacher and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. used his famous "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" to suggest that segregated worship houses serve as a barrier to true Christian worship. Sitting in jail...
U.S. Founding Fathers Set Aside Ideology for Common Good
The founding era of the United States was no less divided and conflicted than the Washington we find so frustrating today. During the revolutionary years, people loyal to Great Britain made up as much as 20 percent of...
Christmas is just another day
By John Pierce Where did we get the idea that Christmas should be perfect? That’s easy to answer: Christmas stories, Christmas songs, Christmas movies, Christmas greeting cards, Martha Stewart. Often we can end up with...
Christmas presence
I've always liked wordplay. During the 26 years I served as a pastor, few Christmas seasons passed that did not find me sermonizing on the importance of presence over presents. I still think about it, amidst all of the...
Profiles in Goodwill: Azar Ajaj
Azar Ajaj is president of Nazareth Evangelical Theological Seminary in Israel. Azar's articles that have appeared on EthicsDaily.com are available here, and his interview during the 2014 Baptist World Alliance...
An Advent Reflection: Conquering Fear and Hatred
An often-sung hymn during this season is "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day," adapted from a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The murder of two New York Police Department officers in Brooklyn, New York, that has...
Ebola Exaggerations Called Political “Lie of the Year”
An independent political fact-checking organization recently lambasted media hype about the Ebola virus in the United States. PolitiFact.com, a Pulitzer Prize-winning nonpartisan site, named Ebola exaggerations by...
Singing About Peace in a Violent, Fearful World
One Saturday afternoon while walking downtown among crowds of tourists and Christmas shoppers, I saw and heard two conversations that caught my attention. An older couple was fussing with each other about what to do...
December 24, 2014
Michigan Teachers United to Help Iraqi Christian Children (USA Today) Middle East: As Christmas Approaches, Baghdad Christians Lament Empty Pews (Washington Post) Illness is Caused by Unrepentant Sin? How Evangelical...
When It’s Hard to Believe That God is With You
The people who need the most to hear the news of Immanuel – that God is with them – are the people who have the least reason to believe that he is. When you live in relative comfort, it's easy to believe in Immanuel....
It’s More Than What We Give; It’s Why We Give
'Tis the season for many things: gatherings of family and friends, special programs for worship and entertainment, lots of food, festive surroundings – and giving. This last one is an interesting phenomenon. Not only...
Profiles in Goodwill: Barry Howard
Barry Howard is the senior minister at the First Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida. Barry's articles that have appeared on EthicsDaily.com are available here. 1. Where did you grow up? Alexandria, a rural community...
December 23, 2014
White Christmas, Black Christmas (The Atlantic) Does Religion Have a Place in the Office (Business News Daily) Search of Bellevue Baptist for Robbery Suspect Ends (Memphis Commercial Appeal) $2 Million Gift Will...
On principle
I didn't expect to see this again, and it's likely that I won't in North Carolina, but in Cleveland, Tennessee, gas stations near I-75 are making the season merry by selling their wares for under two dollars per gallon...
How Your Church Will Benefit from Networking
The challenges of the 21st century call us to be more intentional in addressing how we do ministry. Leading in the 21st century requires adopting and practicing creative approaches to organizational change and...
Profiles in Goodwill: Kevin Hagan
Kevin Hagan is president and CEO of Feed the Children. Kevin's articles that have appeared on EthicsDaily.com are available here, and his Skype interview is available here. 1. Where did you grow up? Sylvania, Georgia....