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Check out news and opinion posts across the years
No Ordinary Relationships: What To Do When the House Is On Fire
A sermon delivered by Joel Snider, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Rome, Ga., on January 8, 2012. Matthew 5:21-26 Meditation Text: Blame has become the all-purpose excuse to do nothing. —Charles E. Sykes in A Nation...
When the buffer is gone
My prayers are with a high school friend who is preparing for her mother's funeral tomorrow. Such times are tough in so many ways. Her father died many years ago, which got me thinking about an interesting dynamic that...
Va. Judge Rules Against Breakaway Episcopal Parishes
(RNS) Seven congregations that broke with the Episcopal Church in 2006 over its liberal policies on homosexuality are not entitled to keep parish property estimated to be worth millions, a Virginia judge ruled on...
Beloved Hymns Carried King Through Troubled Times
(RNS) At 87, the Rev. C.T. Vivian can still recall the moment, decades after the height of the civil rights movement. As he stood to conclude a meeting in his Atlanta home, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. joined his...
Supreme Court Sides with Churches in Employment Fights
WASHINGTON (RNS) The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday (Jan. 11) unanimously threw its support behind a church school that fired a teacher, using a widely watched church-state case to bolster a legal doctrine that...
Which Is More Important to Your Faith? Head or Heart?
I surely understand the opening lines of Edward Hirsch's poem "Self Portrait": I lived between my heart and my head, like a married couple who can't get along … My head says: "I think." My heart says, "I feel." Head...
Why We Want the Easy Way to Follow Christ
I have overheard and been part of recent conversations about "practicality" in the Gospel message. These conversations initially began by looking at the famous passage from the Sermon on the Mount in which Jesus tells...
Christian Right Group Files Brief in Favor of Alabama’s Anti-Immigration Law
A Christian legal organization filed an amicus brief Jan. 3 with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals supporting Alabama's anti-immigration law. Claiming 60,000 members with many in Alabama, the Thomas More Law...
Just what we needed …
The Bible is filled with liberal bias. Did you know this? Even the King James Version. That's why a bunch of anonymous right-wingers are producing a new translation designed to cut out all that liberal stuff....
New Saint’s Work Started Small, Left Big Legacy
(RNS) Barbara Koob moved from Utica, N.Y., to nearby Syracuse in the summer of 1862, when she was 24, to enter the convent of the Sisters of St. Francis. Twenty-one years later, the woman the world now knows as Saint...
New White House Staffers Have Catholic, Jewish Ties
(RNS) President Obama on Tuesday (Jan. 10) named an immigration expert with longstanding ties to the Catholic Church as his top domestic policy official, continuing a campaign-year makeover of White House staff. The...
Appeals Court Rules Oklahoma Shariah Ban Unconstitutional
(RNS) Oklahoma’s referendum against state judges considering Islamic law is unconstitutional, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday (Jan. 10), upholding a lower court ruling that had blocked the...
Shifting From Inward Devotion to Action and Service
When I was a student at Shorter College in the late '90s, I heard about a conference for college students in Texas called "Passion." There were CDs of new and inspiring worship songs coming out of the conference as...
SBC Official Involved in Political Efforts to Defeat Romney, Obama
The Southern Baptist Convention's public policy official is involved in behind-the-scenes efforts to defeat President Barack Obama and stop former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney from garnering the Republican...
Tebow Stars in Morality Play for Some, Offers Template for God Conversation
Sunday's roar of excitement in Denver and living rooms across the country over the Broncos' 11-second overtime victory over the Steelers – the National Football League's best pass-rated defense – drowned out the Tim...
Would Mormons Try to Influence a Romney White House?
WASHINGTON (RNS) When Switzerland passed new employment rules that ban foreign religious groups from sending unpaid missionaries, 13 Mormon members of Congress pleaded with the Swiss ambassador for an exception. The...
Pope Tells Diplomats that Economy Needs New Rules
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The world economy needs “new rules” to overcome the current financial crisis and to ensure that “all can lead a dignified life,” Pope Benedict XVI told Vatican diplomats on Monday (Jan. 9)....
Rob Bell Says Goodbye to Michigan Megachurch
GRANDVILLE, Mich. (RNS) For years, Rob Bell closed his Sunday teachings at Mars Hill Bible Church with a simple statement: “Grace and peace be with you.” Thousands would respond in unison: “And also with you.” On...
How to Stretch Your Congregation to Change
I once worked with an associate who said that whenever I walked into his office with a certain smile on my face, his first thought was, "I am about to be stretched again." Flexing our physical, mental and spiritual...
Male Dominance Reflects Culture, Not Biblical Mandate
LifeWayChristianResources of the Southern Baptist Convention has published a two-volume Bible commentary (for the Old and New Testaments) that's marketed to women. That comes as no surprise, nor is it surprising that...
Does Your Child’s School Have a Ms. Sandra?
Every school day just after 2 p.m., Sandra pushes her cart into my classroom to clean the bathroom and empty the trash cans. She is the school custodian, and my students love her. When students hear her squeaky wheels...