Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Republicans Talk Tax Hike on the Poor and Middle-Class, Protect Rich from Taxes
A week after billionaire Warren Buffett called for American leaders to increase the taxes on the mega-rich, congressional Republicans called for a tax increase on the poor and middle-class. Republicans want to raise...
Feet, Voices, Imagination
A sermon delivered byKathy Pickett, associate pastor, Holmeswood Baptist Church, Kansas City, Mo., on August 21, 2011, in the ordination service for Kate Hanch. Isaiah 52: 7-10 I asked Kate Hanch why she chose this...
The Setup
A sermon delivered by Randy Hyde, pastor, Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, Little Rock, Ark., on August 21, 2011. Isaiah 51:1-6; Matthew 16:13-20 I would never presume to tell you what Jesus was thinking at any...
A whole lotta shaking …
I suspect a lot of people were humming Jerry Lee Lewis' "Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On" or Elvis Presley's "All Shook Up" yesterday when an earthquake centered 40 miles northwest of Richmond rattled its way up and down...
9/11 Marked Crucial Turn in Vatican-Muslim Relations
VATICAN CITY (RNS) A few weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Pope John Paul II invited Muslim leaders to an interfaith prayer summit in Assisi, Italy, the site of a dramatic interfaith peace gathering he had hosted...
Vatican Summons Traditionalists to Rome
(RNS) The Vatican has summoned the head of a traditionalist group toRome to assess the results of a two-year doctrinal dialogue between the schismatic group and the Holy See. Monsignor Bernard Fellay, superior general...
National Cathedral Suffers `Significant Damage’ in Quake
(RNS) The earthquake that rumbled up the East Coast from Virginia on Tuesday (Aug. 23) "significantly damaged" the central tower of Washington National Cathedral, shaking carved stone finials from atop the iconic...
Media’s Too Liberal? Try Too Lacking Diversity
I am usually amused when I read letters to the editor bemoaning the fact that the paper is too liberal. What we should instead bemoan is that the paper is too white. The media is usually the lens by which we view the...
Letting Go: College Start Signals One Era’s End
Facebook postings these days are littered with children posing before their first day of school. Elementary school kids have big smiles, backpacks and themed lunch boxes. Those in the middle-school range are working...
The Dangerous Arrogance of Refusing to Compromise
Compromise is "a rather complex issue that deserves serious thought." So I wrote in an Aug. 5 comment following that day's blog posting in which I cited Max Weber's oft-quoted statement, "politics is the art of...
American Politics More Religious than American Voters
(RNS) Has America gotten more religious, or just American politics? The country has grown less religious since the 1970s, while frequent churchgoers are now much more likely to vote Republican or support the Tea Party,...
Examining Immigration “ One Family at a Time
Teaching can be humanizing work. This is how it happens. The Rodriguez family walks down the hall and turns the corner to my room. "Buenos dias, Mrs. Rodriguez. Buenos dias, niños! ¿Como esta ustedes? Welcome to my...
Remembering the Integrity of John Stott
Karin and I have spent time in London and Poland, at the Jagiellonian University of Krakow, one of the oldest universities in the world, where the quadrennial International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES)...
Keeping the Peace “ Between Nations or Within Church
I've recently been pointed to the Just Peacemaking Initiative, with its aim "to seek peace and justice as disciples of Christ." It's a model of conflict resolution supported by the Baptist World Alliance (BWA). A team...
If Jesus is on the outside … (revised)
A few years back, folks who keep up with archaeology in the Middle East began to hear of a surprising find somewhere in the hills of Galilee -- a group of codices made of lead. "Codices" is plural for "codex," a name...
Congregations Go for Creation Care, One Barrel at a Time
WASHINGTON (RNS) It was the time in pre-marriage counseling when the groom has to leave so the priest and the bride can talk alone. So Jamal Kadri stepped outside Holy Name Catholic Church that rainy day in Washington,...
Religious Leaders Battle Alabama Immigration Law
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (RNS) Alabama religious leaders have filed statements in federal court expressing their concern that a new immigration law would interfere with the practice of their religion and Christian mandates to...
Illinois Catholics Lose Fight over Adoptions, Foster Care
(RNS) An Illinois judge has ruled that the state can terminate adoption and foster care services with Catholic Charities, saying the church-run agency has no “recognized legal right” to a state contract. Circuit Judge...
How Will British Churches Respond to Riots?
The broken windows, torched cars and businesses, bloodshed and terror were ubiquitous in our media and horrific and tragic in their effects on those who experienced them in Great Britain. However, the riots directly...
Religion and Taxes: Speaking Up for the Common Good
The deficit and budget battles in Washington make clear that the divisions between us are deep, even spiritual. The fight is not over the size of the deficit, nor even about expenditure cuts. It is about taxes as the...
British Baptists Remember William Carey
Baptist churches around Great Britain celebrated the 250th anniversary of the birth of William Carey over the weekend. Born on Aug. 17, 1761, Carey, a Baptist minister, linguist and botanist, is often dubbed the...