Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
What Does the Lord Require of You?
I'm tired of being told to be nice. Niceness doesn't change the condition of the world very much. Niceness often requires persons trying to be nice to choke to death on too much bile. I praise God that the most...
What Does the Lord Require of You?
I'm tired of being told to be nice. Niceness doesn't change the condition of the world very much. Niceness often requires persons trying to be nice to choke to death on too much bile. I praise God that the most...
Support Builds for Southern Baptist ‘Exit Strategy’ from Schools
A second member of the Southern Baptist Convention resolutions committee is on record as agreeing there needs to be an "exit strategy" from public schools. According to Agape Press, Ida Mae South declined to comment...
A Bible Exhibit From China Visits the States
There is an exhibit traveling around some major cities that I wish could have stopped in Texas. It is the Chinese Bible Ministry Exhibition. You did not read that wrong--China publishes the Christian Bible, the same...
Father of Marine Sues Church Group for Funeral Protest
The father of a 20-year-old Marine killed March 3 in Iraq has sued members of a Kansas Baptist church that picketed his son's funeral carrying signs with messages including "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and the "Pope...
Land, Dobson Cite ‘Homosexual Propaganda’ in Schools
The head of Southern Baptists' public-policy arm called teaching about homosexuality in public schools "societal child abuse" and said failure to pass a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage would be "a...
Are Public School Teachers Missionaries?
Public school teachers are missionaries, according to Southern Baptists. An anti-public school resolution under consideration at the 2006 Southern Baptist Convention concludes, "This resolution should be construed to...
Encourage Children to Ask The Hard Questions
When the Southern Baptist Convention meets June 13-14 in Greensboro, N.C., they may be asked to vote on a resolution to begin pulling their children from public schools. Written by Roger Moran and Bruce Shortt, the...
A Theology of Local Politics
The yellows, blues, whites, pinks and purples of the wild flowers along the roads and byways of our county have been augmented this spring by hundreds of political signs entreating us to vote for certain of our...
More Than Theology at Stake in ‘Da Vinci Code’ Phenomenon
More than theology is at stake in the phenomenon of The Da Vinci Code. Once we've responded to the novel and movie's themes of Jesus' divinity and marital status, for example, are we in the clear? Can we rest easy,...
More Churches or More Mobilization?
"We don't need any more churches in Kenya." "We don't need any more churches in Zambia." Talk about a shift of missions paradigm! I had to make sure I heard it right, and I did. And then I heard it several other times...
State Rests in Baptist Foundation of Arizona Trial
Prosecutors rested their case against two former Baptist Foundation of Arizona officials on trial for felony charges last Wednesday. The trial resumes Tuesday, when lawyers for William Pierre Crotts and Thomas Dale...
Thumbs Up to Dixie Chicks for ‘Not Ready to Make Nice’
The Dixie Chicks deserve applause from America's new moral majority--those who said the war against Iraq failed to pass the time-honored code of just war theory and those 56 percent who now say the war was the wrong...
The Protection of Marriage
I am not usually given to making predictions about future events, but I feel fairly safe with this one: There will never be an amendment to the U.S. Constitution defining what marriage is supposed to look like. I am...
Blogging Trustee Seeks Investigation of IMB Controversy
A trustee accused of sowing discord by blogging about disagreement with new International Mission Board policies on baptism and private prayer language and caucusing by fellow trustees opposed to the agency's president...
Recovering Our Ethics Heritage, Rekindling That Fire
We are blessed with a rich heritage, a heritage that some need to reclaim, a heritage about which a new generation needs to know. A good slice of our heritage comes from Henlee Barnette, whom we honor as part of BCE's...
Baptists Stand Solidly For Church/State Separation
According to a recent St. Louis "Post-Dispatch" story, a creationist spoke in three Baptist churches in Potosi, Mo., prior to speaking to public school students in science classes. This might lead people to conclude...
Kentucky Debates Religious Dates in Classroom
Critics of plans by Kentucky's school board to add secular references B.C.E. (Before Common Era) and C.E. (Common Area) to historical dating in social studies textbooks appealed at a public hearing for reversal of the...
Baptist Doctors Treat Earthquake Victims
Hungarian doctors and paramedics from Baptist World Aid operated on and treated patients one day after Saturday's 6.7 Richter scale earthquake in Indonesia. Indonesia's worst disaster since the 2004 tsunami, Saturday's...
Personal Note About Drug Use, and the Desert
Today is my last day on drugs. Tomorrow is my first day off of acute leukemia medication in 15 months. No more monthly trips to see my dealer at the Vanderbilt Medical Center pharmacy. No more pills—pills priced at...
BCE to Sponsor ‘Theologians Under Hitler’ Screening at CBF General Assembly
The Baptist Center for Ethics is sponsoring a screening and discussion of "Theologians Under Hitler,"--a film that documents how three of the most prominent German theologians in the 1930s capitulated to and helped...