Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Milk and honey … for real
Readers with even a passing interest in the biblical world will be interested to learn that the first archaeological evidence of bee-farming in the "land of milk and honey" has come to light through excavations at Tell...
Apparently Not
The cover story in the current (Sept.) issue of Baptists Today explores the question of whether loyal-critic bloggers will bring reform to the Southern Baptist Convention. These unofficial leaders were widely credited...
Polls Suggest Democrats Closing ‘God Gap’
Recent surveys suggest Democrats may be closing the "God gap" credited with helping President Bush win re-election in 2004, according to a recent analysis by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. An article by...
BCE Releases ‘Golden Rule Politics’ DVD
With the official start of the 2008 presidential race on Labor Day weekend, the Baptist Center for Ethics today released an educational DVD challenging a prevailing myth that GOP stands for "God's Only Party." "Golden...
Iraq, the Rhetoric of Vietnam and Preaching
I have been intrigued by the invoking of the dreaded word "Vietnam" by folks at various stages of our involvement in Iraq. When our leaders were moving toward the invasion of Iraq, some opponents of that move drew...
Christian Sitcom Slated for Fall in Middle East, North Africa
A broadcasting company with programs produced by and for Christians in the Middle East and North Africa is rolling out this fall a situation comedy touching on moral and ethical issues in a lighthearted way. The Arabic...
Doubts Don’t Make Mother Teresa Less of a Saint
I perked up the other night when I heard Mother Teresa's name mentioned on national news. Her diaries, some commentator intoned, show us an entirely different woman from the sainted nun who walked the streets of...
The Inbred, Overbred, Autonomy Doctrine
For six years, a convicted child molester was pastor and minister a First Baptist Church in Romeoville, Ill. Deacons knew. Other ministers knew. A denominational official knew. Yet, nothing was done until a minister...
How Do We Pray For Our Enemies?
The Rev. Peter J. Peters' short-wave broadcasts from his Colorado church is on my list of favorite radio shows. He sometimes gives his Sunday sermons or more often sits in his office and shares his views of the Bible....
The Clinton Family, According to Jerry Falwell
In 1994 Jerry Falwell was criticized for using his "Old Time Gospel Hour" to hawk a video called "The Clinton Chronicles." The "documentary" was laced with outrageous insinuations claiming Bill Clinton was guilty of...
A fundamental love of beer?
Let me begin with a disclaimer: I despise beer, and for a number of reasons, beginning with the fact that our daughter Bethany was killed by a beer-swilling drunken driver. Other innocent people die every day from the...
Good jobs, bad jobs and odd jobs
My first “real job” came when the Days Inn opened at Interstate 75’s northern most exit in Georgia during my junior year in high school. Donning a red and white striped shirt along with several friends, we kept the...
Baptist Editor Labels Critics of Homemaking Degree ‘Sexist’
Defending Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary's new homemaking degree against critics he views as outside the mainstream, a Southern Baptist state newspaper editor suggested that women are hard-wired for work...
When We Pray For Our Enemies, What Do We Say?
One of the most difficult things Jesus ever said was "love your enemies." And he didn't stop there. Jesus also said "pray for those who persecute you," and then you will be like God. So it would appear that Jesus wants...
Why I Am (Still) a Baptist
This past Sunday morning I spent some time with one of the adult Sunday school classes at the church where I am pastor. They had spent several months working through a study of doctrines important to Baptists, and I...
Senator’s Arrest Latest in String of Republican Scandals
A moderate Baptist ethicist said Idaho Sen. Larry Craig's men's-room arrest--the latest in a string of scandals involving Republican politicians--is further embarrassment for the Religious Right. "None in our stunned...
A Middlin’ Baptist
True "middle-of-the-road" Baptists seem to be the Rodney Dangerfields of the Baptist world. An old friend (whom I respect greatly and who happens to be on the Left) often dismissed others with the folk observation:...
All God’s Chillun’ Need a Livin’ Wage
If there was ever a time for the church to start preaching all the messages the Bible gives about money, wealth and poverty, surely that time is now. I offer this piece of overwhelming evidence: Times are so tough...
Can ministerial students be pastorized?
A recent article posted at Associated Baptist Press documents a trend that folks in seminaries and divinity schools have been noticing for some time: the number of students who want to do ministry is rising, but the...
How Shall We Think about Bill Maher’s Upcoming Anti-Religion Documentary?
TV personality Bill Maher announced on "Larry King Live" his new anti-religion documentary, which he said would be titled "Religulous," as in the combination of the words religion and ridiculous. "It should come out at...
Rove Disputes Moyers’ Report That He is Agnostic
Karl Rove, credited as the architect of President Bush's successful political strategy of cultivating the evangelical right, used the occasion of his White House resignation to deny circulating reports that he is an...