Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Educating Tim LaHaye
Dear Rev. LaHaye: You may not be aware that someone wrote a fictional letter to the editor to the USA TODAY and signed your name to it. I'm sure you would be concerned that someone would dare impersonate you, so I'm...
Huckabee Schedules Campaign Stop at Church in Center of Clergy Sex-Abuse Scandal
Mike Huckabee's scheduled Sunday night campaign stop in Florida will be in a Baptist church at the center of a nearly two-year-old scandal involving alleged sexual abuse by clergy. The Web site of Trinity Baptist...
New Baptist Covenant Is Already a Success
Announcing success before an event is risky, even foolish business. But in the Pauline tradition of being foolish for Christ's sake and forsaking the wisdom of the world, which warns against naming success in advance...
The fine art of sleeping in church
The video of former President Bill Clinton nodding off in church is all over the Internet and morning news shows today. The Sunday service honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was held at Convent Avenue Baptist Church...
The Misunderstood Man From Nazareth
Back in November of last year Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) sent letters for financial information from six of the countless mega-church television preachers. The senator was widely portrayed as persecuting these...
British Baptists Call for Repeal of Blasphemy Law
British Baptist theologians have joined other church and civil-rights organizations in calling for an end to Great Britain's blasphemy laws, which government leaders say are anachronistic and unfairly favor the...
It’s Not About Sex
Thinking that clergy sex abuse is about sex is like thinking the Bataan Death March was about marching.Yet, over and over again, Southern Baptist leaders talk about clergy sex abuse as though it were just another form...
Salutes in order
Martin Luther King, Jr. was not a perfect man, but when cultural winds collided to create a perfect storm of change, he became the ideal leader. His mixture of calmness and courage grounded in compassion -- even for...
In Memory Of Martin Luther King
In his elegant little book, "Finally Comes the Poet," Walter Brueggemann writes that the task of the preacher is to be "a voice that shatters settled reality and evokes new possibilities." If he is right about that,...
Martin Luther King and Selma’s 1965 Voting Rights Campaign
On Jan. 2, 1965, Martin Luther King Jr. led a "mass meeting" at Brown Chapel in Selma, Ala. This meeting kicked off the involvement of King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Selma's voting rights campaign....
Fred Shuttlesworth and Racial Justice: An Old Perspective for a New Millennium
The Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday affords Americans a built-in opportunity to revisit the issue of racial justice. It is also a window through which we may re-view the lives of others who, like King, pushed America...
White Supremacists Headline Martin Luther King Day Protest in Jena
A controversial "pro-majority" group gathers today in Jena, La., to protest both the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and last September's rally that brought thousands of African-Americans to the small town in solidarity...
Pulitzer Journalist, President’s Grandson Panelists for ‘Golden Rule Politics’ Screening in Atlanta
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Cynthia Tucker and Jason Carter, grandson of former President Jimmy Carter and co-founder of a grassroots service organization called Democrats Work headline a panel discussion...
Help Wanted: Black Friend
The great modern-day theologian--Steven Colbert of the popular Comedy Central show "The Colbert Report"--recently began accepting applications for the position of his very own "black friend." Recognizing the importance...
The Gospel According to Albert
The rain did not turn to snow in Macon, Ga., this weekend as forecast, much to my younger daughter's disappointment. But knowing the precipitation in some form was certain, I picked up a DVD of "Fat Albert" on Friday...
The brain is for remembering
In thinking through my options for a post today, I was intrigued by a continuing spate of articles relative to neuro-science. My last post cited research showing that the brain's pleasure center can influence it's...
‘Jimmy Carter: Man from Plains’
The Camp David Accords matter to the film because almost 30 years later Carter is still embroiled in the issue of Middle East peace. This man from Plains—who reads his Bible each night and tells visitors to his church...
Arizona Baptist Youth Minister Charged, Former Texas Deacon Sentenced, for Sexual Abuse
A Southern Baptist youth minister in Arizona was reportedly placed on administrative leave following his arrest last Friday on nine charges of sexual misconduct and abuse of a 13-year-old girl. While East Tucson...
Mohler’s New Book Advocates Exit Strategy from Public Schools
A seminary president and recently announced candidate for president of the Southern Baptist Convention says in a new book that Christians should have an exit strategy from public schools. Albert Mohler, president of...
Efficiency and hot dogs
The Bridges family of Kings Mountain, N.C., visits us between Christmas and New Year’s. It’s a tradition all of us enjoy, and one that counters the usual post-Christmas downer.Moms and the younger ones go shopping....
Al Mohler for President–of the SBC
Amidst the intense campaigning for the presidency of the United States, there is a smaller yet significant campaign of another type taking shape--the campaign for president of the Southern Baptist Convention. The SBC...