Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
21 Lessons in Politics from a Baptist Preacher
I don't know many people who aren't generally disgusted with the political process right now. Left to right, top to bottom, it's a mess. I thought I'd put a little advice together for would-be leaders. Further, Baptist...
Do Politicians Really Represent All the Founders?
As election season approaches, the occasional appeal to the "founding fathers" - more accurately, the "founding generation," since women played essential roles as well - in political speeches seems to become more...
7 Words That Sum Up the Gospel? How About 1?
The Christian Century, one of the few worth-reading Christian magazines of our time, has proposed an interesting exercise in theology. They have given some authors the challenge to express the gospel in seven words or...
Religion Emerges at Democratic National Convention
Amid the political speeches, organizing and parties at the Democratic National Convention, faith discussions emerged. Over 90 faith leaders, elected officials and Democratic delegates filed into a Catholic church in...
How James K. Polk Gave Us the U.S.-Mexico Border
Today, the United States is separated from Latin America by a superimposed 1,833-mile border – a bloody scar, as Gloria Anzaldúa reminds us, caused by the First and Third Worlds rubbing up against each other. This is...
In Hurricane’s Wake, Baptists Provide Shelter, Aid
Baptists in the United States and elsewhere are responding to the disasters caused by the passage of Hurricane Isaac through sections of the Caribbean and the United States. Churches in Haiti provided shelter and other...
On speaking for others
By John Pierce My lack of a strong interest in the current national political scene saves time and a good bit of frustration. However, it does produce a slither of guilt — since buying in long ago to the...
Tips of the Slung
Every public speaker dreads them, but from time to time most make them anyway. I am referring to what are often called slips of the tongue. Or as Rev. William Archibald Spooner might say, tips of the slung. Spooner,...
Why Advertisers Want You to Hear from “Scientists”
The attitude of many laypersons to scientific and technical matters is one of reverence. They will drink in the fake profundities of, say, television science programs with a credulity quite as remarkable as that of any...
Will Our Schools Help Children of Immigrant Parents?
I love to receive letters. When I was a little boy, I lived on a long, straight street and could see the mail truck coming from a long way off. After the mailman stopped in front of our house, I ran down our front...
B is for brave
I hate the very idea of war. Violence, guns, bombs -- situations in which people equally devoted to their cause (or drafted into fighting) shoot or bomb and kill or wound each other -- nothing about that is appealing....
What You Can Learn if You’ll Just Be Still
In a go-go world, what could be worse than silence, being still, doing nothing? It is the "doing nothing" that engenders guilt and anxiety, that evokes fear. This is precisely why we so desperately need stillness....
Skype Interview: Brian Kaylor on “Mainstreaming Mormonism”
The last day of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., represented a "mainstreaming of Mormonism," according to an expert on religion and politics. "Last night was a really dramatic shift from the way...
Undocumented “Freedom Riders” to Attend Faith and Immigration Event in Charlotte
Up to five "UndocuBus" freedom riders plan to attend the Baptist Center for Ethics-sponsored faith and immigration event from 2-4 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 4, at Saint Peter's Catholic Church in downtown Charlotte, N.C.,...
Too much to ask?
In an election year that has serious ramifications for the future of our country, is it too much to ask for candidates to tell the truth, or a reasonable facsimile thereof? The just-ended Republican National Convention...
“The Mission” “ A Movie about Resisting Evil
Back in the 1970s, I heard my friend and colleague, Bob Culpepper, talk about his list of "top 10" movies. (Bob passed away earlier this month, and I wrote about him here.) After hearing about Bob's list, and the...
Can Capitalism Be Compatible with Christianity?
I am a natural born U.S. citizen; I am practically a natural born Christian, too. I was, after all, born on U.S. soil to American parents who took me to church for the first time when I was 10 days old. My growing-up...
The Greatest Struggles Christian Women Face
Readers who aren't on George Barna's e-mail list might be interested to know of a recent series of surveys his organization has done on the views and feelings of Christian women. For the purposes of the telephone...
I Was Not Disobedient
A sermon delivered by Joel Snider, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Rome, Ga., on August 26, 2012. Acts 26:9-23 Morning Prayer: We confess, our Father, that one of our greatest desires is to be useful to you and for your...
Great Expectations
A sermon delivered by Robert Browning, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Frankfort, Ky., on August 26, 2012. John 6:56-69 Something was wrong, terribly wrong, and the disciples knew it. The crowds coming to see and hear...
Lord’s Supper Meditation: Choose
A sermon delivered by Randy Hyde, Pastor, Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, Little Rock, Ark., on August 26, 2012. Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-15; Ephesians 6:10-17 It is most appropriate that this morning, of all Sunday...