Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
‘Foleygate’ Divides Republicans
The Mark Foley affair threatens an unholy alliance between the Religious Right and gay Republicans that helped re-elect President Bush in 2004. Religious conservatives blamed the former Republican congressman's...
Study Links Theology, Domestic Abuse
Bad theology concerning the roles of men and women may contribute to domestic abuse, says a new study by the Church of England. "Domestic abuse is not simply an isolated series of events between a perpetrator and a...
Hear Republican Critique of Christian Right, Support of Paul’s Primer for Politics
Former Republican Senator John Danforth rejected the idea of a Christian political agenda in his new book. The proposition is advocated by the Christian Right. "Christianity does not give us an agenda for American...
Columbus Day No Reason to Celebrate
Women were raped. Children were disemboweled. Men fell prey to the invaders' swords. Within a generation, the lives and cultures of the indigenous people of the Americas were forever changed. Avarice for gold and glory...
Moderates Should Conspire To Take Over America
I'd like to direct this to American Muslims: Dear Friends of Faith, One of my Baptist brethren says you are busy plotting the takeover of America, but I hope you'll pause in your preparations for a moment to read these...
Baptist Leaders Blind to Their Responsibilities
"The fact is any cleric--Catholic or Protestant--who molests a child to satisfy his own dark urges should be immediately dismissed and severely punished. Period. However, church leaders have gone blind to their...
The Devil’s Highway
My mom and I talked a little about immigration while I was home. It's a huge issue in Tennessee politics right now, and all the politicians are running ads showing themselves defending Tennessee's borders from...
Activists Protest Court’s Upholding of Germany’s Ban on Homeschooling
Homeschool activists are raising alarm about a controversy in Germany involving church, state and school they fear could have long-term repercussions affecting parents' rights to educate their children in the United...
Murder in a One-Room School House
Nothing captures America's sense of longing for a simpler time quite like the idea of a one-room school house. That is at least part of the reason why the horror that took place this past week at an Amish school in...
New TV Show Talks Up Religion and Politics
In NBC's new drama "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," virtually every hot-button political and religious issue earns an argument, joke or soapbox in this fast-paced tale set amid high-stakes TV production. "Studio 60"...
Religious Right Muted in Criticism of Foley
Criticism of disgraced former Congressman Mark Foley has been muted from the Religious Right, amid concern the scandal might hinder recent efforts to get out the Christian vote for Republican candidates in midterm...
Relief First Line of Battle Against Global Poverty
For many Baptists, the front line of attacking global poverty is rapid response to natural and manmade disasters. "All of us are drawn to the relief aid," Paul Montacute, director of Baptist World Aid, says in a new...
Tennessee Baptists Sue Belmont
The Tennessee Baptist Convention has sued Belmont University under a 1951 agreement that the school would return gifts from the TBC--an estimated $58 million to date--should the state's Baptists ever lose the right to...
Who Would Jesus Torture?
I was a guest panelist five years ago at a Southern Baptist Seminary symposium on Christianity and the new war in Iraq. In an otherwise somber discussion I got the single laugh of the evening when I quipped: "You see,...
American Baptist Leaders Propose Sale of Headquarters
American Baptist Churches, U.S.A.'s General Board will vote in November on a recommendation to sell the denomination's headquarters building in Valley Forge, Pa. American Baptist News Service reported last week that...
Genocide for the Digital World
As the genocidal crisis grows in Darfur, Sudan, attention paid to the conflict ebbs and flows, mainly depending upon what else is making news in a given week. (See this video about American news coverage of the crisis...
Faithful Democrats Protest Alleged Cover-Up for Congressman
A Web-based campaign started last month to organize Christian Democratic voters on Monday issued an open letter of moral outrage over reports that GOP leaders knew former Rep. Mark Foley (F-Fla.) sent sexually explicit...
SBC Spokesman Responds to Call to Fight Sexual Abuse
A Southern Baptist Convention spokesman suggested leaders are willing to discuss a proposal by a group that drew attention to sexual abuse by Catholic clergy to make the issue a higher priority in America's largest...
Baptists and Alcohol: What Would Jesus Do?
Thank the Almighty for men of God like Brad Reynolds, professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in North Carolina and pastor of Gravel Hill Baptist Church in Clarksville, Va. A man who is not afraid to...
Seminary Speaker Advocates Christian Rule
A recent speaker at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary said Christians have a responsibility not just to preach the kingdom of God, but to impose Christian principles upon culture. That was on the heels of the...
Advocate Says Baptists Slow to Confront Problem of Clergy Sex Abuse
When former Southern Baptist Convention president Jerry Vines uttered his infamous remark that Muhammad was a "demon-possessed pedophile," some experienced SBC observers took it as a double-entendre--responding...