Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Critics Call on Rick Warren to Discipline Rupert Murdoch for Expanding Porn Channels
"Purpose Driven Life" author Rick Warren is under fire for failing to discipline media giant Rupert Murdoch for owning and expanding pornographic channels for satellite TV. The Australian-born owner of Fox Broadcasting...
SBC Official Says Relatively ‘Low’ Number of Cases Proves System Working Against Sexual Predators
A Southern Baptist Convention official told a Tennessee TV station a relatively low number of documented cases of sexual abuse by clergy shows the way Baptists deal with the problem is working. Will Hall, vice...
SBC Leader Rejects Evolution, Affirms Catholics
The Southern Baptist Convention's public-policy head estimated Thursday that just a small minority of Southern Baptists believe humans evolved from lower species. Richard Land, president of the SBC Ethics &...
Should GOP Pay Debt to Southern Baptists with Huckabee Nomination?
Is it time for the Republican Party to pay its debt to the Southern Baptist Convention by nominating one of the SBC's own to lead the party's presidential ticket in 2008? Southern Baptist preachers have done a lot of...
‘Spider-Man 3’
Movie franchises ebb and flow. Thinking about the "Star Wars" series, most people believe "The Empire Strikes Back" is the best movie of the lot, and the quality went downhill from there. "Spider-Man 3" follows this...
Observe the Real Mother’s Day–Work for Peace
Mother's Day has become a sub-Christian church observance marked by sentimentality and commercialism, devoid of its original purpose and foreign to the biblical witness. Let's take back Mother's Day this year from...
Fear, Arrogance and Ignorance
There is a wonderful scene in the movie "Bull Durham" in which a seasoned catcher is trying to mature an impetuous though talented young pitcher. The catcher says, "You've got to play this game with fear and...
What Would Jesus Wear?
In recent weeks we had a couple of separate issues that converged to create the "perfect storm." The main issue is this: "What should we wear to church?" Three related issues sparked a larger conversation. In no...
How Far is Too Far?
How far is too far? Richard Gere recently found out after publicly kissing an unsuspecting Shilpa Shetty. There is a warrant out for both of their arrests. Why arrest Shilpa Shetty? Indian lawmakers believe she was too...
British Baptists Lament Past, Modern Slavery
About 2,000 British Baptists were expected for last weekend's Baptist Assembly in Brighton, England, the biggest Baptist event of the year. This year's assembly theme, "In Search of Freedom," marked the 200th...
SBC Leader Labels Theocrats ‘Kooks’
Two Southern Baptist leaders dismissed as ludicrous charges by liberals that the nation's largest Protestant denomination has been taken over by theocrats. "I am an elected official in the Southern Baptist Convention,"...
Serving God, Not Wealth
The only way that we can live a successful life is to follow the Kingdom of God that Jesus taught. We all fail to live up to these teachings, and many times we believe that we are being resourceful in doing so. Jesus...
Head of Evangelical Group Converts to Catholicism
A controversial Baylor University professor has resigned as president of the Evangelical Theological Society, after receiving full communion in the Roman Catholic Church. Francis Beckwith, associate professor of...
It’s Not a Fair World–Especially If You’re a Kid
I have on my desk the 2006 UNICEF State of the World's Children report. The title of the report is "Excluded and Invisible." It gives several reasons for this invisibility, which shuts children out of school,...
Evangelical Leaders Push for ‘Biblical’ Immigration Reform
Evangelical leaders in Washington Monday unveiled an advertising and letter-writing campaign aimed at building a national, ecumenical grassroots organization calling for comprehensive immigration reform consistent with...
SBC Officer Denies Support of Abortion-Provider Assassin
A Southern Baptist Convention officer denied endorsing a statement supporting a man convicted of killing a doctor because he provided abortions. That was after Web sites reported the official's name appeared on a...
LA Police Attack on Hispanics Provides Civics Lesson From the Margins
Imagine you are part of a group of concerned citizens frustrated with Congress placing timetables on the military spending bill. Your group of mainly white, middle- and upper-class residents decides to hold a rally,...
In Violence We Trust
The tragic shooting at Virginia Tech has left us numb. It is difficult to understand how such a horrific event could take place with no apparent meaning behind it. It does not appear that Seung-Hui Cho had any personal...
‘Dead Man Walking’ Author Describes ‘Awakening to Justice’
Growing up as a privileged white daughter of the South, "Dead Man Walking" author Sister Helen Prejean never questioned the need for a death penalty to protect society from dangerous criminals. But that was before her...
The Illusion of Rampant Randomness
This past week, we in Kansas City were forced to take an unblinking look at the emotional toll taken when a deranged man desperately needing psychiatric care picked up a gun and went on a shooting rampage. On a much...
Republican Candidates Show Energy, Diversity on Faith in First TV Debate
A Mormon voiced the best of the Baptist tradition on the separation of church and state in the first Republican presidential TV debate last night. Asked about the denial of communion to pro-abortion-rights politicians...