Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
My Meeting With Ian Smith
Ian Smith, the former white minority president of Southern Rhodesia, has died. Smith and his supporters unilaterally (and illegally) declared independence from the United Kingdom in 1965 and ran a white minority regime...
Yellow pencils and matching socks
During the Thanksgiving season, I often recall reading about a delightful young girl named Barbara Ann. She was a happy child, much of the time, because she had the special ability to find happiness in little things....
Keeping Perspective When Things Go Wrong
Sitting around the dinner table with friends talk turned to the war and our frustrations with so much that is wrong with our world. Someone said they were tired of politicians who kept up the shell games of...
Arlo Guthrie, Thanksgiving and a Yarmulke
Thanksgiving may not be a "Jewish" festival, but each year one of its rituals stirs in me the memory of a moment when my puzzled, uncertain exploration of the "Jewish thing" took on new power for me. And when I came to...
Being in God’s Place and Time
The nurse who greeted us in the emergency room was pleasant and efficient. I could not help noticing, however, the colorful tattoo on her right forearm. Below the tattoo were two additional figures, which looked like...
Thanksgiving Trumps Christmas, Orange Is the Color for the Common Good
Thanksgiving trumps Christmas. Cultural fundamentalists and sentimental Christians may read that statement as heresy. The former may read it as another salvo in the mislabeled war being waged against Christians via the...
Movie Star, Motivational Speaker, Pro Wrestler All Endorse Huckabee as Best Conservative Christian Candidate
Baptist motivational speaker Zig Ziglar and "Left Behind" co-author Jerry Jenkins joined a growing list of faith leaders and celebrities endorsing former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee for president. Ziglar, an...
‘Enchanted’
Disney again mines the fair maiden narrative--Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty--to bring us a moderately entertaining entry into the holiday movie season. Relying on fairy tales, princesses and happily ever...
Thankful for a free press
The lists are long on both the personal and professional sides of my Thanksgiving ledger. Today there is one, professionally, that I raise in appreciation during this blessing-counting season.The First Amendment to the...
Baptist World Aid Appeals for Funds for Cyclone Victims
(BWA) Baptist World Aid, the relief and development arm of the Baptist World Alliance has received cries of help from two BWA member bodies in Bangladesh, the Baptist Sangha and the Fellowship, following Cyclone Sidr....
U.S. Senator Requests Donation Information of TV Evangelists
Back in the 16th century, the Dominican monk Tetzel, to fulfill the pope's demands, preached from village to village how the faithful could shorten the time of their loved ones in purgatory with a few shekels....
Southern Baptist Pastor Charged With Domestic Violence
The pastor of a Southern Baptist church in suburban Atlanta is on administrative leave after being arrested on charges of simple assault and obstruction of a 911 call after an altercation last week with his wife. Jeff...
Huckabee Criticized for Ties to Prosperity-Gospel Preacher Kenneth Copeland
A Southern Baptist seminary professor criticized Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee for joining forces with a prosperity-gospel preacher under Senate investigation for his ministry's finances. A full-page...
New Day Revolution: How to Save the World in 24 Hours
Did you hear the one about the Christian going into the coffee shop? Of course you didn't. Because Christians go into coffee shops a lot. So does everyone else. In fact, so many of us go into so many coffee shops so...
Does EthicsDaily.com Matter?
No Baptist media source has given more timely and thorough attention to the issue that almost every Baptist preacher wants to avoid than EthicsDaily.com. The issue is child-sexual abuse in Baptist churches. As Mark...
British Baptists Offer Historic Apology for Slave Trade
British Baptists have adopted a statement apologizing for transatlantic slave trade and expressing "true repentance" for failure to listen to the pain of black brothers and sisters resulting from that legacy. The...
Divisive is as divisive does
You may have read about an anti-blogging resolution approved last week by the Georgia Baptist Convention (GBC). You can find the full text of it here. And, if you look closely, you’ll see a brief reference near the end...
What think ye?
My friend Vic Ramsey, a respected pastor in the northeast corner of the state, posted an intriguing comment to my recent blog about the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina meeting in Greensboro. He raises an...
Baptist state conventions meet — but who cares?
‘Tis the season for Baptist state conventions to meet to approve budgets, elect leaders and draw lines. I’ve not done extensive research into attendance figures, but there seem to be (in most cases) smaller numbers...
Georgia’s Governor, Baptists, Turn To God During Drought
Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network reported Wednesday's half-inch rain across parts of Georgia was "certainly an answer to prayer." The showers came less than 24 hours after Gov. Sonny Perdue held an...
Baptists Today Launching Edition in North Carolina
Baptists Today, founded in 1983 as a national newspaper for moderate Baptists, will launch its first state edition January in North Carolina, the paper's editor announced this week. Editing the North Carolina edition...