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Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Despite Setbacks, Study Says Baptist Women Making Gains in Ministry
Despite the Southern Baptist Convention's declaration eight years ago that the Bible forbids women from serving as pastors, the ranks of ordained Baptist clergywomen in the South are growing faster than ever, according...
Recasting the Ten Commandments
Rabbi Rami Shapiro and I are collaborating on a book in progress exploring the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount.Our blog, Mount and Mountain, recently passed the 100-post mark. We have completed a first...
The interminable question
CNN's witty reporter Jeanne Moos — equipped with a stopwatch — showed an partial (mercifully) video clip of a question-and-answer exchange from a John McCain Town Hall meeting.The audience participant — identified as...
Credit where credit isn’t due?
It came as no great surprise that Georgia pastor Johnny Hunt was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention this week. Hunt had been favored as the anointed one two years ago, but declined to run,...
‘Kung Fu Panda’
Poor Po the Panda. He dreams of glory as he works in his father's noodle shop. The glory Po seeks is that of a great kung fu master, but he (Jack Black) is clumsy and unfocused. When it's time, however, to name the...
The Evidence of Things Not Seen
In March of this year, 11-year-old Kara Neumann of Weston, Wis., died as the result of a diabetic condition known as ketoacidosis. This condition is normally treatable with injections of insulin. When properly treated...
Southern Baptists Criticized for Failure to Speak Out on California Schools
Advocates of Christian schooling criticized the Southern Baptist Convention Resolutions Committee for declining to bring a resolution condemning a California law that critics say requires public schools to indoctrinate...
Baptist Men assist firefighters
A gargantuan wildfire that has gobbled 40,000 acres of eastern North Carolina's Pocosin Lakes Wildlife Refuge, threatening wildlife like these turtles and sending smoke as far west as Burlington, has also attracted...
Throw out more churches, please
Much has changed as a result of the Fundamentalist takeover the Southern Baptist Convention that began nearly three decades ago. But one thing has been consistent for a long, long time.During the SBC annual meeting,...
SBC Resolution Encourages Political Involvement
The Southern Baptist Convention on Wednesday passed a resolution urging political involvement by churches. "Christians should seek to apply their spiritual and moral values to the political process," said a resolution...
Fred Shuttlesworth: Prophet of Social Equality at CBF
While not as well known as Martin Luther King Jr., Fred L. Shuttlesworth was the Baptist pastor most responsible for the success of the civil rights movement in the Alabama city known as "Bombingham." Fifty racially...
New SBC President Has a Resume Problem
The newly elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention has a credibility problem. Johnny Hunt, pastor of First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Ga., identifies himself with the title "Dr." and lists two accredited...
SBC: back to basics
The Southern Baptist Convention is meeting in Indianapolis this week. Thus far, the convention has been marked by low attendance, an establishment victory for president, and a bushel basket of diverse motions from the...
Goodbye George Bailey, and Thank You
The actor who portrayed George Bailey in the classic 1946 film "It's a Wonderful Life" died on Friday. Now some are thinking, "Wait a minute—Jimmy Stewart died a long time ago." Stewart in fact died in 1997. Stewart,...
Goodbye George Bailey, and Thank You
The actor who portrayed George Bailey in the classic 1946 film "It's a Wonderful Life" died on Friday.Now some are thinking, "Wait a minute ”Jimmy Stewart died a long time ago." Stewart in fact died in 1997. Stewart,...
Johnny Hunt Wins Six-Way Race to Become SBC President
Georgia mega-church pastor Johnny Hunt won a surprise first-ballot election as next president of the Southern Baptist Convention in the most wide-open race in many years. This year's presidential race featured six...
SBC Leaders Recommend Against National Database of Clergy Sex Offenders
Local churches, and not the Southern Baptist Convention, must take responsibility for ridding the denomination of sexual predators, the head of the SBC Executive Committee said Tuesday. "Sexual predators must be...
When short memory is a gift
Atlanta Braves fans gave a collective sigh of relief last Friday night when the Phillies' Chris Coste popped up in the ninth inning with two outs and two men on base. The Braves, who have not done well in one-run games...
Baptist Clergy Sex-Abuse Case Settled Out of Court
A Texas Baptist church and its pastor have reportedly settled a lawsuit with a woman who claimed the minister molested, raped and got her pregnant when she was a minor. The Denton Record-Chronicle reported Sunday that...
Waging Peace Rather Than War
"Ain't Gonna Study War No More" is one of those old songs we don't hear sung much these days. It comes from some of the very insightful and meaningful verses in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (The first four books of the...
Former SBC Leader Declares Denomination in ‘Free Fall’
A former Southern Baptist Convention president warned of denominational decline in a national gathering of pastors. "We have reached a place that our spiritual forefathers feared," Jimmy Draper, former head of LifeWay...