Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Why don’t I feel vertigo?
So, if I'm standing on the edge of a precipice and being pushed from behind with oblivion below, why do I not feel the queasy sensation of adrenaline pumping, or at least some vertiginous unease? Maybe it's because the...
Why Huckabee’s Wrong to Blame Public Schools
I often hear people say that the reason for our country's moral decline is because we can't read the Bible in the classrooms and because we took prayer out of the schools. Recently, former Arkansas governor and...
New Year’s Outlook Will Depend on Our Focus
The realities of good and evil are powerfully evident in our time, as in most others; the conflicting messages from Christmas ("peace on earth") and from horrific tragedy (Newtown, Conn.) remind us that the world we...
Poll: Americans’ Religious Identity Still Mostly Christian
The United States is a Christian nation, according to a Gallup Poll that surveyed how Americans identify themselves. "[M]ore than nine in 10 Americans who have a religious identity are affiliated with a Christian...
Boxing day
In the United Kingdom and several other Commonwealth nations, the day after Christmas (or sometimes the first weekday after Christmas) is observed as "boxing day." It has nothing to do with flyweights, welterweights,...
This Christmas, Are You Believing in God?
Editor's note: This column is the fourth part of a four-part Advent/Christmas series from the Gospel of Mark on waiting, hearing, repenting and believing. Read part one here, part two here and part three here. The...
Skype Interview: Sam Davidson Discusses Social Entrepreneurship
Have you thought about your cannonball? If you're frustrated with your ability to impact the world as you wish, maybe it's because you haven't paid attention to your cannonball. So says Sam Davidson, a Nashville-based...
Baptist of the Year: Glen Stassen
Glen Stassen is EthicsDaily.com's pick as Baptist of the Year for 2012. Stassen and Baptist peacemaking are synonymous. He has maintained a remarkable concentration on peacemaking for more than 35 years. His focus has...
A New World Coming “ An Ordinary World
A sermon delivered by Joel Snider, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Rome, Ga., on December 9, 2012. Luke 2:1-12 Meditation Text: “I realized it for the first time in my life: there is nothing but mystery in the world, how...
Mothers of God
A sermon delivered by Keith Herron, Pastor, Holmeswood Baptist Church, Kansas City, Mo., on December 23, 2012. Luke 1:39-45 (46-55) The Fourth Sunday of Advent The fourth Sunday of the pageant of Advent is sometimes...
Oops!
A sermon delivered by Jim Somerville, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Richmond, Va., on December 23, 2012. The Fourth Sunday of Advent Luke 1:39-55 Well, this is embarrassing. I had it on unreliable authority that the...
Being Baptist in a Post-Denominational Age
Every year our church's Denominational Relations Committee leads a month-long emphasis on Baptist heritage. The approach each year is different, but the point is to remind us of who we are as a Baptist congregation. ...
Isn’t It Time to Turn Down the Video-Game Violence?
Not long ago I sat and watched a couple of boys as they played video games. While the younger boy raced cars, the older boy played a military commando game. The object of the race was obvious: finish first. The object...
Common Security: Path to Peace in Middle East
In my 1992 "Just Peacemaking" book proposing just peacemaking theory, which led to the consensus "Just Peacemaking: The New Paradigm for the Ethics of Peace and War" (1998/2003/2008), I wrote: "Rational policy must...
Mistletoe and miscellania
Assorted ruminations on the day after Christmas: Mistletoe: I didn't see a single sprig of mistletoe this year. Is the tree-borne parasite becoming rare, or just the holiday tradition? Or, is there a broad-scale...
British Movement Inspires Young to Tackle Injustice
Christian Aid has launched a new movement to encourage and inspire young people to come together to tackle injustice. The Christian Aid Collective will bring together young people from across the United Kingdom to...
It’s Time to Find Solutions to End the Violence
Contrary to popular opinion, the Christmas story is not all sweetness and light. Lost in our usual Christmas shuffle of gift-giving, carol-singing and candle-lighting is the sobering tale of the "slaughter of the...
Striking Up Friendships at Interfaith Bowling
It may have been the article I posted back on Day 61 of our KOH2RVA (Kingdom of Heaven to Richmond, Virginia) initiative about bowling alleys that inspired me. Whatever it was, when my interfaith group started talking...
I only did what I had to do.
At Christmas we often have special services and pageants to celebrate the birth of Christ. In the light of the Sandy Hook massacre, many of us have been reminded of the slaughter of the innocents ordered by King Herod...
Caring for the Poor: It’s Not Just for Christmas
Charles Dickens was an English social critic and writer who is generally regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era (1837-1901) in Great Britain. He was born 200 years ago in 1812 and is the author of such...
Skype Interview: Courtney Allen Discusses “Soul Food”
"At Soul Food, we operate with a theology of abundance," says Minister Courtney Allen. "There's nothing that we have that can't be given away at Soul Food." Soul Food is a "feeding ministry" hosted by First Baptist...