Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Grime Time
By John Pierce Every year at about this time I get reacquainted with my pressure washer. Together we blast away the dirt, mildew and other unwanted stuff that has built up from months of changing weather conditions. I...
How not to preach
Seminaries and divinity schools offer frequent doses of advice on how to preach more effectively. When Lillian Daniel showed up for the first of three Cammack Preaching Lectures at Campbell University Divinity School...
Eisenhower: Military Man and a Man of Peace
President Dwight D. Eisenhower died 43 years ago today, March 28, 1969, at the age of 78. At the time of his election as the 34th president of the United States in 1952, he was a five-star general in the U.S. Army....
EthicsDaily.com Documentary to Screen During Democratic National Convention
An EthicsDaily.com documentary on immigration will be screened during the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Sept. 4 at Saint Peter's Catholic Church. An ecumenical panel of bishops will speak from a...
Are Churches Really Prepared for Future?
Editor's note: This column is another of several EthicsDaily.com will carry from an initiative from Great Britain called "Beyond400.net – Baptists Imagining Life After 400 Years." Although no one other than God knows...
Cruising the informational highway just not the same
By John Pierce News reports of generational shifts can provide insights as well as be reminders of aging. The first I can accept better than the latter. The latest report to rattle my generational moorings is the...
Civil-Rights Group: Hate Groups Now Top 1,000
The SouthernPovertyLawCenter (SPLC) is a nonprofit civil rights organization dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of society. The SPLC was co-founded in 1971 by...
Why God Wants You to Give It a Rest
Would you please give it a rest? Try to settle down. Loosen up. Lighten up a little. Ease off. Back off. Whoa, wait a minute, time out. Give me a break. Chill out. If you're hearing these kinds of things more often...
Are There Galileos to Challenge Today’s Dogma?
I was going down the road, listening to "All Things Considered" on NPR, when I heard an interview between Melissa Block and Kelly Beatty, a senior contributing editor for Sky and Telescope magazine. I learned that now...
Does God deflect three-pointers?
I stand amazed by the persistent notion that God routinely interferes in basketball games, or in any other sports, for that matter. Well-meaning athletes who believe one should give glory to God often express thanks...
How Technology Can Discourage Deeper Thinking
Among the wonders to behold over the years in a college classroom has been the presence and use of technology, both in the design of instruction and in its reception. Students are now treated regularly to presentations...
During Lent, Stay Focused on the Big Picture
Lent is already halfway over and is anyone dragging like me? The days of self-reflection and self-discipline seem like too much at junctures like today when I'm ready to throw in the towel and just say, "What's the...
Illinois First State to Sell Lottery Tickets Online
Illinois became on Sunday morning the first state to sell lottery tickets over the internet. The state is now taking advantage of a ruling from President Obama's Department of Justice, announced at Christmas, that...
Seeking oneness
Trinity Baptist Church choirTrinity Baptist Church in Raleigh hosted a full house of Cooperative Baptists both Friday evening and Saturday morning as about 1,150 supporters gathered March 23-24 for the Cooperative...
Similar Scenes Hold Two Definitions of Success
The two scenes – one from the past, the other contemporary – are strikingly similar. So are the contrasts. Both involve candidates for political office attending a festival of sorts. The feast scene from the past...
Seeking Justice for Palestinian Christians
Recently I was in Palestine/Israel as a speaker for a conference sponsored by the Bethlehem Bible College titled "ChristattheCheckpoint." The conference was designed for Palestinian Christians and to converse about the...
Limbaugh or Maher: Whose Misogyny is Worse?
Is Rush Limbaugh's vulgarity worse than Bill Maher's vulgarity – or vice versa? Well-known to most are the highly offensive words that Limbaugh used to discredit female Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke....
Marketplace or Temple?
A sermon delivered by David Hughes, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Winston-Salem, Nc., on March 11, 2012. Exodus 20:17; Psalm 19; John 2:13-22 Marketplaces have their place. I was reminded of that just yesterday when I...
The Lord’s Prayer: An Uncomfortable Arrangement
A sermon delivered by Joel Snider, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Rome, Ga., on March 18, 2012. Matthew 18:21-35 Morning Prayer: O God, even though we do not need to tell you, we admit that we fail daily, but we do...
Lifted Up
A sermon delivered by Randy Hyde, Pastor, Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, Little Rock, Ark., on March 18, 2012. Fourth Sunday in Lent Numbers 21:4-9; John 3:14-21 I have a feeling that had Jesus not referred to the...
Marking Sacred Time
A sermon delivered by Keith Herron, Pastor, Holmeswood Baptist Church, Kansas City, Mo., on March 18, 2012 The Fourth Sunday of Lent Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22 One week prior to the assassination of President Kennedy, Fred...