Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Get ready for Duck Tuesday
To my knowledge, "Duck Tuesday" does not exist outside my own skull, but I'd like to propose it as a new addition to the "get ready for Christmas" calendar. In recent years we've become accustomed to "Black Friday" and...
Will Baptists Decry Hatred Against Muslims?
A man who firebombed a Tennessee mosque was sentenced in late November to 14 years in federal prison. Michael Corey Golden, who turned 24 the day after his sentencing, admitted making the Molotov cocktails that...
Doesn’t Add Up: Calculating Exactly How Many Are Saved
In the calculus of evangelical theology, there are only two states of being. People are either saved or lost. Saved means they have accepted Jesus as their savior. Lost means they have not. There is no middle ground...
Balancing Act: Government’s Role vs. Individual Rights
The question of the role of government versus individual rights is at least as old as the 17th century. The concept of individual rights arose from the view that because reason is the primary characteristic of human...
A season for not believing
There is a lot of competition for consumer dollars this time of year. It seems that many companies — especially those who hawk their goods on TV - are relying on buyer’s gullibility.Have you ever watched a commercial...
Seven guys
Seven guys in a room.Seven guys sitting, talking, joking -- listening. Seven guys sharing their hurts and hopes, their sorrows and joys. Seven guys who care.Seven guys whose friendship goes back more than 20 years,...
The Overlooked Season: Don’t Skip Advent This Year
When I made a quick stop in a local discount store to pick up a few general items in early October, I couldn't help but notice the strange combination of items in the promotional section near the front of the store....
“Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire”
"Precious" is an unrelenting movie. Striking at the heart of any compassionate person, it brings the viewer into a world that is not too far from any door in America. And it calls to us to see the life of one we would...
Do 90 Percent of Us Not Want to Hear Injustice?
A friend remarked the other day that 90 percent of the American population couldn't hear anything someone said to them. It was an unscientific and unsubstantiated observation. To be sure, it had little to do with the...
In the giving spirit, all year long
So many people brought so much stuff to Odell and Johnnie Riddle's home that their garage kept overflowing. Now they gather, sort and share clothes, furniture and other items out of a warehouse in downtown Dalton,...
Christmas Toy Drives Require Immigration Check
One of the reasons I wanted to move to Houston 12 years ago was the city's multiracial environment. I wanted my children to grow up to be world citizens, not just middle-class Anglos from the Deep South. I love my...
Caste Out? India’s Discrimination Migrates to Britain
It will come as a surprise to legislators in the United Kingdom to realize that protections afforded to India's Dalit people, formerly known as "untouchables," are not applicable in the U.K. Discrimination on the...
Hannah’s Prayer: An Example of Sincere Worship
Out of the vast throngs of the people of faith in our Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, Hannah, the mother of Samuel, stands out as a model for spiritual wishfulness. The ancient rabbis described her as the composer of...
The Waiting Place
Sermon delivered by Bob Browning, pastor of Smoke Rise Baptist Church in Stone Mountain, G.A., on November 29 2009. I Thessalonians 3:9-13 All of them have common characteristics. You will find very durable,...
Some Times Call for…Hope
Sermon delivered by Joel Snider, pastor of FirstBaptistChurch in Rome, Ga., on November 22, 2009. Isaiah 40:1-11, 27-31 Meditation Text: Hope is not merely the optimistic view that somehow everything will turn out...
In Those Days
Sermon delivered by Randy Hyde, pastor of Pulaski Heights Baptist Church in Little Rock, A.R., on November 29 2009. Jeremiah 33:14-16; 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13 We Baptists are latecomers when...
Another 30,000
War.I hate it. Always have, always will. Yet, for most of recorded history, war has been with us, and it doesn't seem to be going away any time soon. On Tuesday night President Obama announced that his strategy for...
Just War Rule Challenges Obama’s ˜More War to End War’ Strategy
President Obama told the nation last night that his strategy in Afghanistan is to make more war in order to end the war. But he never satisfactorily assured the nation of the probability of such success. As such, his...
Christian Janitor Dies Protecting Muslim Women
His name was Prevaiz Masih. He was the janitor at the International Islamic University in Islamabad, Pakistan, until Oct. 20. On that day, two suicide bombers attacked, one on the women's side and the other on the...
Who’s the Real Enemy of Immigration Reform?
From a cramped, dingy Birmingham cell, he wrote a letter to the liberal and moderate civic leaders of the community. It was a letter written to those who were supposed to be allies in the struggle for basic human...
What’s in a name?
In an address to the Tennessee Cooperative Baptist Fellowship a few years ago, I noted that hometown obituaries often include the phrase that he or she was "of the Baptist faith."Typically, the obit will say something...