Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Bush Wants Money for Iraq, but not America’s Children
President Bush recently demanded another $189 billion to extend his occupation of Iraq for another year--even as he stripped low-income children of their healthcare. The cost of funding an expanded State Children's...
Oral Roberts University, Hagee, Seek Influence Beyond the Church
Recent allegations against Oral Roberts University raise larger issues concerning the influence the university has around the nation.Three former ORU professors filed a lawsuit claiming they were fired for blowing the...
Southern Baptist Leader Attacks Gore, Says Christians Should Save Souls, Not the Earth
The environment is a second-tier concern for Christians--in part because the Bible teaches that the world is coming to an end, anyway--and the church's top priority is saving souls, according to a Southern Baptist...
Practicing what we preach
Practicing what we preach is one of the hardest disciplines in life. Often we set the bar higher for others than we are willing to leap ourselves.In some cases, we simply don't follow the advice we quickly dispense to...
Democratic Christian Congressman Says Humility Lacking in ‘Values’ Debate
The politics of polarization employed by the Religious Right is both ineffective and unbiblical, a Democratic congressman said in a panel discussion of the proper relationship between faith and politics earlier this...
Campolo Says Hillary Clinton Stronger Candidate Than Bill
An American Baptist minister and spiritual adviser to President Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal says Hillary Clinton is an even stronger presidential candidate than her husband. "She is the most...
Reaching Young People At All Costs?
Having served as a pastor now for over 30 years, I have seen every sort of outreach gimmick you can imagine. Churches have been willing to do almost anything to get people into church, especially young people. With...
Gore Becomes Third Baptist to Win Nobel Peace Prize
Al Gore became the third Baptist to win the Nobel Peace Prize, joining Jimmy Carter in 2002 and Martin Luther King in 1964. How is it that three sons of the Bible Belt have each won the world's most prestigious award...
Artful dodging
Charles Dickens' classic Oliver Twist includes a young rascal known as "the artful dodger" because of his ability to pick someone's pocket and make a quick getaway. The most accomplished "artful dodgers," I've...
Fair Taxation a Pro-Life Issue, Professor Says at ‘Golden Rule Politics’ Screening
Abortion is an important moral issue, but not for the reason many pro-life Christians believe, says a University of Alabama law professor and seminary graduate who has spent five years on the sawdust trail preaching...
Violent Young Men
I saw the Halo youth-ministry story that everyone's commenting on when I picked up a copy of the New York Times at the airport on Sunday. For those lucky enough not to have read the story, it seems that staging nights...
Help Save a Sinking SCHIP
I pay attention when the Gospels show Jesus' anger. In addition to a few confrontations with religious hardliners, there are only a few other notable episodes. When Peter's suggests that Jesus would not endure any...
Violent Young Men
I saw the Halo youth-ministry story that everyone's commenting on when I picked up a copy of the New York Times at the airport on Sunday. For those lucky enough not to have read the story, it seems that staging nights...
Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Magic’ Charts Distance Between American Ideals, Reality
It has been almost 35 years since Bruce Springsteen's first album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., first appeared in January 1973, and his music has been one of my most enduring companions in the journey from...
What Should Churches Do About Immigration?
Let's face it: Global migrations in the 21st century will not disappear just because of wishful thinking. While 6.3 billion people in the world in 2002 were native born, according to the BBC's "Fact File: Global...
Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Magic’ Charts Distance Between American Ideals, Reality
It has been almost 35 years since Bruce Springsteen's first album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., first appeared in January 1973, and his music has been one of my most enduring companions in the journey from...
What Should Churches Do About Immigration?
Let's face it: Global migrations in the 21st century will not disappear just because of wishful thinking. While 6.3 billion people in the world in 2002 were native born, according to the BBC's "Fact File: Global...
In First GOP Presidential Debate, Thompson Defends U.S. Iraq Policy
Rookie Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson said Tuesday he doesn't think he waited too long to enter the race. "It seems about right to me," the former U.S. senator and actor said in the closing minutes of...
Warning! Incoming Baptists!
Sometimes an email subject line can get your mind to wondering. Such was the case with one sent to me recently by Callie Davis, staff assistant for the Baptist House of Studies at Duke University Divinity School...
An Expert on Baptist Polity?
As the Missouri Baptist Convention's lawsuits against five ministries continue in pre-trial stages after more than five years, the state convention recently announced individuals it considers to be experts in Baptist...
Advancing Peace as Divided Lebanese Christians Stockpile Weapons for War
Lebanese Christians are divided with factions stockpiling weapons and preparing for a civil war, according to a New York Times article last week. A Lebanese Baptist leader has a different perspective on the situation,...