Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Why Your Worship Doesn’t Hinge on Your Freedom
"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." – John 16:33 Three years ago in Iran, a pastor named Youcef Nardarkhani...
Problems or Partners? How Will Churches View Migrants?
"Migration and the Changing Ecclesial Landscape: Who is My Neighbor?" was the theme of a regional conference of the World Council of Church's Global Ecumenical Network on Migration held in Beirut, Lebanon, Dec. 5-7,...
The Bible in 10 words
In a class called "Teaching the Bible to Youth and Adults" at Campbell University Divinity School, my students were asked to think about the Bible as a metanarrative for understanding our place in the world (one of our...
What Do You Do When You See Injustice?
Cape Town, South Africa, is one of the most stunning places I have visited. The landscape is unforgettable: mountains, blue waves, pristine beaches, rich soil. Juxtaposed to the beauty of the land, however, are...
British Christians Appeal Discrimination Rulings
In recent years, a number of cases in Great Britain have gone to court involving Christians who claim they have been victims of discrimination. Often the decisions against these Christians have been upheld, the...
Democrats’ Exaggerated Claim to Faith Mirrors GOP’s Error
The claim that the Democratic Party is a party of faith is as strikingly exaggerated as the claim that the GOP stands for God's Only Party. The Baptist Center for Ethics has long covered and constantly challenged the...
Merry heart, dancing feet
By John Pierce Friends who join me for an Atlanta Braves game often talk more about the characters they meet at Turner Field than the onfield action. Those of us seated down the left field line know one of those...
Democratic Party’s Religious Rhetoric Deifies Obama, Demonizes GOP
Democratic Party leaders attempted to rally the faith vote last week at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., with much of the rhetoric focused on President Barack Obama as a divinely chosen leader....
Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop: CBF’s Next Step
A new future began to emerge for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in Fort Worth, Texas, in June. The retirement of long-time Coordinator Dan Vestal was front and center throughout the meeting. Add to this the return...
Ensuring That All Children Grow and Thrive
Imani walked down the hall with a paper cup in her hands. She stopped and held up the cup to me. Inside its paper walls were soil, water and seeds – all those humble and elemental things that build a third-grader's...
4 Principles about Mixing God and Politics
On the heels of the Republican and Democratic National Conventions – "Please like us; we're nicer than we seem" (the Republican theme) and "Please don't leave us; we're doing the best we can" (the Democratic theme) – I...
Democrats Struggle with Faith Outreach
As Democrats gathered in Charlotte, N.C., last week to push for the re-election of President Barack Obama, they found themselves criticized for removing the word "God" from the party platform. The attacks – and the...
Why Your Church Defines Talent Too Narrowly
What gifts were you given, and how have you employed them to further God's kingdom? During a discussion of talent, I said to Paula Carl, a gifted pianist, organist and conductor, "I am wary about using the term...
Old hymns
I'm writing this before heading out to church today. I don't know what the music will be like, though I'm sure it will be well done, and I'm not worried about it. I can enjoy both traditional and more contemporary...
BCE Brings Faith Witness to Democratic National Convention
As thousands of delegates, elected officials and guests flocked to Charlotte, N.C., for the Democratic National Convention (DNC), the Baptist Center for Ethics (BCE) assembled an ecumenical panel in the midst of it all...
Fall Football Brings into Focus the Culture of Autonomy, Counterculture of Dependency
The new spirituality collapses the space between football and faith, according to Ray Waddle, the former religion editor at the Tennessean, who still contributes two columns each month to the paper. Ray and I arrived...
Is the Nation Going the Wrong Way or Are You?
It's just speculation, but you have to wonder whether the disciples of Jesus thought he was heading in the wrong direction. That's when Jesus decided to head west and a little north to the region of Tyre. Not that the...
Be Doers and Not Hearers Only
A sermon delivered by Jim Somerville, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Richmond, Va., on September 2, 2012. The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost James 1:17-27 Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is...
Let’s Start at the Beginning
A sermon delivered by Keith Herron, Pastor, Holmeswood Baptist Church, Kansas City Mo., on September 2, 2012. Genesis 1:1-25 We begin at the beginning... everything has a beginning, some point of origin, some place...
Worker Justice in the 21st Century Empire
A sermon delivered by Wendell Griffen, Pastor, New Millennium Church, Little Rock, Ark., on September 2, 2012. Exodus 1:6-14 6Then Joseph died, and all his brothers, and that whole generation. 7But the Israelites were...
Losing the giants
A Baptist giant died this week and the shame of it is, most Baptists didn't know him. Walter Harrelson was born in Winnabow, N.C., between Wilmington and Southport, in 1919. He studied at Mars Hill College when it was...