Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Re-Imagining Worship
Sermon delivered by Keith Herron, pastor of Holmeswood Baptist Church in Kansas City, M.O., on June 8 2009. Isaiah 6: 1-8. Most of us sit in church week after week, sometimes year after year waiting for...
Global Warming a Problem? 70 Percent of Americans Say ‘Yes’
A new study examining various opinions on global warming details how most Americans are alarmed or concerned about global warming while only a small minority are doubtful or dismissive. The report, led by researchers...
Absolute Religious Rhetoric Leads to Violent Behavior
Dr. George Tiller was murdered on May 31 while attending church services in Wichita, Kan. This is the second time Tiller has been shot, and both times for the same reason. Tiller performed abortions. The response...
Kentucky Church Invites Gun Owners to Display Sidearms in Service
What gun would Jesus carry? An absurd question, perhaps. What prompts it is an upcoming event at New Bethel Assembly of God in Louisville, Ky., advertised as an "Open Carry Celebration" and described as follows: ...
Life is like a piano recital
Three o'clock. Saturday afternoon. Piano recital. On my calendar. In ink.After days and hours of writing, copy-editing and proofreading, the couch felt good. But the piano recital called me from my comfort.A trumpet...
Perspective
I've recently been reminded of the importance of perspective. The issue -- by another name -- became a national discussion recently when a comment by Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor came to light. In 2001, she...
The Day Lightning Struck
Sermon delivered by David Hughes, pastor of First Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, N.C., on May 31 2009. Acts 2:1-21. Before April 11th of this year, few people if any outside of Blackburn, Scotland had ever...
Obama Models Interfaith Theology in Cairo Speech, Calls for Interfaith Service
President Barack Obama spoke as a public theologian in Cairo, one who is confident enough in his own Christian faith to value Islam and to voice the common ground shared by those from the Judeo-Christian-Islamic...
Georgia Death Penalty Case Calls Christians to Consider Justice
Someone murdered an off-duty police officer named Mark MacPhail in Savannah, Ga., in the late 1980s. The state of Georgia convicted a man named Troy Davis and sentenced him to death in 1991. No one ever found the...
Name-Calling, Attacks Won’t Solve America’s Immigration Woes
Rationally discussing immigration policy and reform is difficult because the subject raises many strong emotions and feelings. People who oppose immigration reform or want to limit or halt immigration are called...
Baptist Missionary to China Recalls TianAnMen Square
Twenty years ago today, I was awakened by the dreadful news that the Chinese government chose to use force in stopping the non-violent student demonstrations. I had just left Beijing and was in Hong Kong when the BBC...
Chill out
With more deadline than time today, this 2005 photo from William Shakespeare's hometown of Stratford-upon- Avon prompts me to believe that contemplation and a more deliberate pace will be found on the other side of my...
“Up”
Back in the days of Looney Tunes, it was apparent to anyone who would take time to see that these cartoons were not made for children. They were made for adults. Disney/Pixar's new movie, "Up," is a cartoon made for...
Carter Offering Played Role in Freeing Pastors in Azerbaijan
Two pastors imprisoned in Azerbaijan have now been released, but the array of problems in countries and regions where religious freedom is hampered by a majority religion or political structures continues. That is...
Obama as Spock? President More Closely Aligns with Poitier’s Roles
In light of the new "Star Trek" movie, President Obama has been tagged as our "first Vulcan president" because he comes across as a logical, cool, "no drama" person of mixed heritage. This is an interesting and fun...
Tempted Like Us
Sermon delivered by Dr. Joel Snider, pastor of First Baptist Church in Rome, Ga., on May 24, 2009. Hebrews 4:14-16; Matthew 16:24-26 When you are a young adult in your 20’s and 30’s, you hear people talk about how you...
A short guide to happy anniversaries
June is here, traditionally a popular month for weddings, though I suspect that goes back to the days when young folk were expected to marry shortly after high school or college, and weddings followed graduation.If a...
No Matter Your View on Abortion, Tyranny Over Law Can’t Prevail
The congregation could hear the gunshot as Dr. George Tiller was murdered in the narthex of his own Lutheran church in Wichita, Kan., on a sunny Sunday morning. His wife, who sang in the church choir, also heard the...
Report: Big Oil Purchases Advertising to ‘Greenwash’ Its Image
Anyone who watches television, browses the Web or reads print media is probably familiar with the feel-good ads touting the big oil companies as green and eager to lead the way to clean energy technology. Some are cute...
Christian Sunday School Class Fosters Healthy Talk About Islam
We talked about Islam in my Sunday School class not long ago. In recent weeks, we had turned to the subject of how Christians might or should view other religions, and it was felt that those in the class would benefit...
‘Gotta have a friend in Jesus’
It only took two or three notes of Norman Greenbaum’s 1969 hit “Spirit in the Sky” to appear on the car radio before my teenage daughter had reached the volume dial and turned it up high. A special satisfaction comes...