Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Assistant DA Says Pastor’s Failure to Report Sex Abuse Could Be a Crime
An assistant prosecutor said Bellevue Baptist Church Pastor Steve Gaines may have committed a crime if he knew the "moral failure" a church staff member confessed to him six months ago involved child molestation. All...
A Personal Peeve, Promise, Plea
When I first went to work for a denominational agency in Nashville, I encountered two wasteful patterns that forever set me in another direction. One was individual sloth. The other was organizational misdirection. I...
Christmas in the South
Christmas in the South is unlike Christmas anywhere else in America. While obviously there are many common factors that show up in Christmas festivities nationwide, there are features of a southern Christmas...
Christmas Lesson: Death Penalty Fuels Crime
I am with a group of men in prison. We are in a seminar I have been leading for some weeks. Most are many years into serving life sentences. One young man, however, expects to be released soon. We get to talking about...
Christmas Is Many Things
I read where Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus spent only one night in the Bethlehem mule barn. Officials from the Bethlehem city government informed them there was an ordinance against having a nativity scene so near...
The Subtlety of Love
Americans are notorious for their holiday extravagance. Some theorists even suggest that holiday spending is a solid way to gauge the health or sluggishness of our nation's economy. In related veins some see...
Bellevue Pastor Staying, Texas Pastor Leaving, Over Clergy Sex-Abuse Scandals
The pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis said Wednesday he has no plans to resign over waiting six months to tell church members one of their long time ministers was a confessed child molester, while a Texas...
‘We Are Marshall’
"This is a true story" begins the movie. Not "based on" or "inspired by," but "this is." And aside from a couple of composite characters, "We Are Marshall" seems to be the true and still largely unknown story of a...
‘We Are Marshall’ Tells Neglected Story
Marshall University lost its football team, coaching staff and many boosters when their plane crashed just before landing home in West Virginia on Nov. 14, 1970. The crash in Huntington is still one of the worst...
Muslims Ask Wal-Mart to Shelve ‘Left Behind’ Based Video Game
An American Muslim group has joined a campaign asking Wal-Mart to stop selling a "Left Behind" themed video game, saying it demonizes Islam by creating targets with Muslim-sounding names. A coalition of church-state...
Baptists of the Year: Lebanese Baptists
Lebanese Baptists are EthicsDaily.com's pick as the Baptists of the Year. They weathered a withering war. They showed physical courage and spiritual grace under unspeakable pressure. They used the best of technology to...
A Sydney Christmas
Christmas in Sydney, Australia, is celebrated in much the same way as in most other major world cities. In many homes you will find tinsel, colored lights, effigies of Santa and angels, and a pile of wrapped gifts...
Baptist Pastor Plays Role in Closure for Community’s Grief
Earlier this year, something odd happened in Huntington, West Va.: A film crew rolled into town. They brought with them well-known actors Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox and David Strathairn. They turned back time to...
Bellevue Investigates Minister for ‘Moral Failure’
A prominent Southern Baptist mega-church has placed a long-time staff member on administrative leave and launched an internal investigation into allegations he molested a member of his family 17 years ago. Steve...
Christmas a Sign of Hope for Britain’s Churches
For most of the year Britain is, at least on the surface, a fairly secular country. In spite of the presence of the Church of England in its structures of government--Anglican bishops sit in the House of Lords, the...
The Spirituality of Congress
We may enjoy some level of separation of church and state in this country, but there hardly exists anywhere a separation of faith from public office. There is spiritual vitality in virtually every branch of government....
Leno Mentions ‘Would Jesus Shop at Wal-Mart’ Ad in Monologue
A Baptist Center for Ethics Christmas campaign urging Wal-Mart to be a "Golden Rule" employer earned mention in Jay Leno's Friday "Tonight Show" monologue. "Hey, did you hear about this?" Leno asked. "A controversial...
No, Virginia, There Is No War On Christmas.
I know you are frightened by media sages who trumpet that Christmas is under attack. But let's take a reality check: --Churches all over America are observing Advent and preparing for Christmas. Not one of them has...
BCE Exec Urges Wal-Mart to Put Golden Rule Ahead of Profit on CNBC
The executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics said Friday on national television that Jesus would be more concerned about children of Wal-Mart employees going without health care than saving shoppers money....
Fox News Loves Little Baby Jesus, Not the Jesus as Lord of All
Fox News loves little baby Jesus--eternally preserved in swaddling clothes, radiant, helpless, voiceless, surrounded by wise men with gifts, angels in perfect harmony, shepherds with faces of wonderment. Yes, little...
Father-Son Story Inspires Film
Chris Gardner is a happy, 52-year-old multimillionaire. Don't overlook the happy part, because it wasn't always so. Gardner, now the owner and CEO of Christopher Gardner International Holdings, used to be homeless. He...