Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Pastor Regrets Testimony on Behalf of Confessed Child Molester
Stung by criticism since appearing as a character witness for a former church youth worker who confessed to child molestation, a leader in the African-American Baptist community Asheville, N.C., pledged to find ways to...
Faith, politics and confusion
My old campus ministry colleagues have long recalled and embellished stories from a national gathering of Baptist campus ministers at Ouachita University in Arkansas in the early '80s. The two-day trips out and back...
Persecution of Christians in Iraq Grows
Before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, a minority of Christian leaders protested the preemptive war. Among them were bishops of the United Methodist Church, President Bush's church. Many Christian denominations chose to...
Yahoo Identifies Year’s Top Searches
What did Saddam Hussein and Britney Spears have in common in 2007? Both were top searches on the search engine Yahoo. Yahoo has released "2007 Top Trends in Search," a nifty section of its site that lists and comments...
The Ballad of John and John (Ode to John Lennon)
Every year when December hits, we hear a lot about John. That's John, as in the strange and hairy man screaming as loud as he can that we've really messed up the world, and we all better get our act straight before...
Tube time
Most folks who know how to access the web have heard of YouTube, a video-sharing sensation that made its founders obscenely rich while fascinating people with both time and broadband on their hands. Those of us who are...
First Baptist Church Jacksonville Considering Christian School
A prominent Florida mega-church is scheduled to vote tonight on whether begin a Christian academy, joining a grassroots strategy to eventually build a large network of Southern Baptist schools to compete with public...
Chanukah and Chutzpah
While it is common for countries and states to have their official birds and flowers, we Jews have our official attitude: chutzpah. Chutzpah is a Yiddish word meaning "extreme self confidence." Whether it is the...
The Link Between Politics and Religion
Nearly every week someone complains that my column is not about "faith matters." The accusation is that I write more about politics than faith and should therefore call the column "political matters." I readily admit...
Reinvite Huckabee to Speak at New Baptist Covenant
Republican presidential candidate and Southern Baptist preacher Mike Huckabee needs to speak at the New Baptist Covenant Celebration on Wednesday night, Jan. 30, 2008, in Atlanta. He needs the support of goodwill...
Bad advice, good advice
This week, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will seek to allay fears that his Mormon faith is a negative attribute. I assume he will do well.However, I saw several news reports leading to his address that...
Internet Evangelist Uses Swine to Attack Islam in Video
An American Internet evangelist entered a fray over a UK teacher jailed in Sudan for allowing her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad with a YouTube video featuring a stuffed pig named for the Muslim prophet. Titled...
Romney Tries to Thread Impossible Theological Needle
Religion is neither a qualifier nor a disqualifier for public office, unless you are a Mormon, one of your opponents is a Southern Baptist and you are both running for the presidential nomination of your party. When...
Lunchtime: Eating for the Benefit of Everyone Else
In many churches, food is as commonplace as pews, choir robes and altar calls. In fact, potluck is as much a part of the Christian vernacular as prayer, peace and pastor. Therefore, the call to eat for the benefit of...
Going nuts
I don't know how the term "nuts" or "nutty" came to be associated with bizarre behavior or ridiculous ideas, but there are as many nutso characters in the newspapers lately as there are acorns falling from my...
Baptist Church Postpones Vote on Including Gays in Church Directory (updated)
A respected moderate Baptist church in the news over controversy about homosexuality decided Sunday to postpone a vote about whether or not to photograph same-sex couples together in an upcoming church directory....
Jesus’ Moral Manifesto in Luke 4 Includes Call for Earth Care
Pro-environmentalism is embedded in Jesus' moral manifesto found in Luke 4:18-19, a note long ignored among Baptists who consistently water down, spiritualize or privatize this text. Reading from the Hebrew prophet...
New Baptist Center for Ethics DVD Promotes Good Will Between Baptists and Jews
The Baptist Center for Ethics today announced pre-release orders for "Good Will for the Common Good: Nurturing Baptists' Relationships with Jews," a DVD documenting past anti-Semitism and proposing a way forward for...
The virtues of unbelieving
If one is ignorant, or just flat wrong about something, there is no virtue in having a firm conviction. Maturity requires on ongoing rethinking of what is worthy of our affirmation and commitment.Now there is a...
Exegete this …
With the end of the semester approaching, my desk holds a stack of exegesis papers dutifully written and presented as an offering by my Old Testament and 1-2 Samuel students at the Campbell University Divinity School....
Avoiding Advent Boycotts
EthicsDaily.com recently carried a Religion News Service story about a new church movement called the "Advent Conspiracy." It appears to be the initiative of a local Portland pastor in response to American...