Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Will the New Baptist Covenant Be Political?
Polite conversation encourages the avoidance of discussing religion and politics. It is for good reason. In the history of the world, more blood has been shed and more lives have been lost by the way these forces have...
Baptist Foundation of Arizona Assets Go on Auction Block
The last remaining Arizona real estate assets from the defunct Baptist Foundation of Arizona go on the auction block today in a Phoenix hotel. A liquidating trust created in a 2000 bankruptcy to sell assets and return...
Fine wine in the mind
It should come as no surprise that we tend to perceive things that cost more to be of higher quality, even when they're not.A researcher at the California Institute of Technology recently demonstrated that the fineness...
Jerusalem Should Be a City of Peace for People of All Faiths
On May 14, 1948, the modern State of Israel declared its sovereignty as an independent state and a home for the Jewish people. That action opened a floodgate of violence that continues to this day, and it created a...
Southern Baptist Leader Says In-Vitro Fertilization Immoral
A recently announced candidate for president of the Southern Baptist Convention who has in the past said he would support treatment to change the sexual orientation of pre-born infants from gay to straight and called...
Former Pastor Arrested on Charges He Sent Lewd Text Messages to 14-year-old Girl
An African-American Baptist preacher once promoted by past Southern Baptist Convention presidents Paige Patterson and Jerry Vines and the late television preacher Jerry Falwell surrendered to police in Jacksonville,...
Good stuff from LifeWay Research
As a frequent critic of the leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention, I am sometimes asked if I ever say anything nice about those who now control the ever-narrowing denominational body. Not often, but I will when...
Baptist Church, Jewish Temple Have Long History of Fostering Good Will in Birmingham
Southside Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., made national headlines in 2001 for opening its doors to Temple Emanu-El during a two-year temple renovation, but what neither congregation knew at the time was that...
Face-Based Religion
"God is in His Heaven, and the hypocrites are in His church." Now before you send me hate mail about being anti-Christian, I am only paraphrasing the results of a LifeWay Research survey on church affiliation. LifeWay...
Romney’s Politics Aren’t Christian
On Dec. 5, Mitt Romney gave an excellent speech at Texas A&M University about the relationship between church and state. He asked evangelicals to take an inclusive outlook toward his Mormon faith, and he urged...
Met a “mystery worshiper” lately?
If you think the church visitor who came in and sat near you is taking more notes than the pastor's sermon deserves, there's a chance he or she might be a "mystery worshiper," especially if you live in Britain, where a...
Moderate Leader Says Huckabee Lied About SBC Statement on Wifely Submission
Baptist Press reported that Mike Huckabee said he "stands by" a Southern Baptist statement on wifely submission, but a moderate leader says the former Arkansas governor misrepresented what the statement really says in...
New Baptist Covenant Celebration Chance to Move Forward in Race Relations
North American Baptists will soon have one of the best opportunities in our history to address the racial divisions that have too long defined us. On Jan. 30, thousands of Baptists from across racial, denominational,...
Baptist Minister Cherishes Relationships With Jews
The topic of Baptist-Jewish relations is up-close and personal for me. In 1984, while living near Chicago, teaching university music and serving on a church staff, I was invited to become temple soloist at Sinai Temple...
Can Evangelicals be Democrats?
Nine evangelical Christian leaders sent a letter last week urging pollsters to ask Democratic voters — not just Republicans — if they consider themselves to be evangelical believers.According to Religion News Service,...
One Nation, Indivisible?
Over the holidays my wife and I enjoyed watching the movie classic "The Bells of St. Mary's." It's not really a Christmas movie, but it has all the themes of faith and grace that we celebrate during the season, and the...
Baptist Pastor on Trial for Molestation Gets Boost When Witnesses Recant
The trial of a Southern Baptist pastor charged with molesting two stepdaughters and raping one of them is moving forward, even though his lawyer says the two star witnesses have recanted. Charles Dickerson, senior...
Paige Patterson Denies Turning Blind Eye to Clergy Sex Abuse
A Southern Baptist seminary president called charges by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests that he turned a blind eye to allegations of clergy sex abuse "snap judgments" that are "misinformed and...
A prayer for peace between publishers
Would a denominational publisher resort to underhanded tactics in a bid for Baptist business?That's the impression one might get from reading a letter sent out in mid-December by Lex Horton, publisher of Smyth &...
Grisham brings intrigue to celebration
The list of speakers for the upcoming Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant is simply remarkable: two former U.S. presidents (Carter and Clinton), two Nobel Prize winners (Carter and Gore), two U.S. senators (Grassley...
George W. Bush Interview in the Year 2050
In the Year of our Lord, 2050, a press conference at the ranch near the Crawford city limits was just beginning. By 2050, the Crawford air terminal had been named Heck-of-a-Job International Airport. The local school...