Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Debating Suffering’s Easy; Alleviating Suffering’s Harder
Why is the existence of God and the degree of divine engagement in the created order always such a pressing concern for the comfortable armchair debaters when disasters strike? Is the question of "why God allows the...
Proudly Tossing Poor Nations Our Pocket Change
Like so many Americans, I have been glued to the television and its images from Haiti. On a coffee break, I watched first responders pull people out of the rubble. With my heart broken at the sight of such profound...
Hanging It Up? Whistle-Blowers Face Uphill Battle
When you hear a whistle in a football game, you know somebody did something wrong. It's the same way in the real world. A whistle-blower is a person who raises a concern about wrongdoing in an organization. Usually,...
‘Living the legacy’
A big dose of inspiration came my way this week while visiting Montgomery. Shirley Cherry, a retired school teacher and volunteer tour guide, showed me through the parsonage that was bombed on Jan. 30, 1956.Dr. Martin...
Bush’s biggest victory?
Thursday's Supreme Court decision allowing unlimited political spending by corporations may turn out to be George W. Bush's greatest victory, one that could tilt the political landscape in dramatic ways.The former...
“The Book of Eli”
Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens have published best-selling books that speak to their belief that faith and religion poison society. But what would a world devoid of faith and religion look like – a world...
The Real Demons That Have Destroyed Haiti
Let's talk about demons. The Christian Spanish reached America at the end of the 15th century, a discovery that fit their ambitions well. A gruesome killing ensued, led by Christopher Columbus' troops against the...
Worship Should Be More Than Routine
I had myself pretty well persuaded that the churches claiming to follow in the patterns and practices of Jesus – and that covers almost all of them – were off-base by focusing their programmatic life on worship. As far...
Belief is an individual choice
Fortunately, my "roses" file is much larger than the one marked "stones." That is, I receive many more affirming letters than negative ones.But those letters of disagreement can be instructive. They are also the...
NBC-TV Station Looks at EthicsDaily.com Documentary Airing on ABC-TV Stations
An EthicsDaily.com documentary airing on ABC-TV stations has drawn the attention of an NBC-TV station. On Tuesday, KPLC-TV carried a news story about "Different Books, Common Word: Baptists and Muslims." "It has a...
Renewing Ourselves So We Can Help Others
I spent last week in Arizona for a short vacation. It was a needed and welcome break from winter – highs in the low 70s with cloudless skies and stunning sunrises dancing over the mountains and across the valleys. A...
No Doubt? Questions Can Deepen Our Faith
"I never question why things happen the way they do." That's what Texas quarterback Colt McCoy said recently after an injury sidelined him in the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) National Championship game during the...
Awash in a media sea
Five years ago, when researchers determined that youth ages 8-18 were spending an average of six and a half hours per day plugged into some sort of electronic media, they thought the trend had topped out, limited by...
Why is Pat Robertson So Quick to Condemn Haiti?
Women were raped. Children were disemboweled. Men fell prey to the invaders' swords. Within a generation, the lives and culture of the indigenous people of the Caribbean came to a bloody end. Avarice for gold and glory...
Why Many Churches Forget About Christian Unity
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, observed during the third week of January for the last century, often has been the celebration and prayer of only a few. The week is being observed this year from Jan. 17-24. The...
Echoes of Tower of Babel: Pride and Insignificance
Now the whole earth had but one language and few words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and settled there. ... Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a...
If Martha strikes out…
News shows, last night and this morning, were abuzz over the special election being held in Massachusetts today to fill the seat of the late U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy. Many assumed the election in a heavily Democratic...
You Are Mine
Sermon delivered by Randy Hyde, pastor of Pulaski Heights Baptist Church in Little Rock, A.R., on January 10 2010. Isaiah 43:1-7; Acts 8:14-17 If you were to write your own obituary, what would you say...
What the Lord Requires
Sermon delivered by Joel Snider, pastor of FirstBaptistChurch in Rome, Ga., on January 10, 2010. Micah 6:1-8 Meditation Text: Consider a harder, but more excellent, way. A group of lively Christians...
Grace is Never Stingy
Sermon delivered by Bob Browning, pastor of Smoke Rise Baptist Church in Stone Mountain, G.A., on January 17 2010. John 2:1-11 Who would have thought that one of the hottest news items last week would focus...
Called By Name
This sermon was delivered by Wendell L. Griffen, pastor of NewMillenniumChurch in Little Rock, Ark, on January 17 2010. Isaiah 43:1-7; Psalm 29; Acts 8:14-17; Luke 3:15-22 Christians proclaim that God loves...