Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Holy Land, Holy People
In September I took time off from my duties as an associate scholar at the Institute for Christian/Jewish Studies to represent the Alliance of Baptists along with 15 other Jewish and Christian leaders. We represented...
‘Bee Season’
The recently released film "Bee Season," based on the book by Myla Goldberg, is in many ways an extraordinary movie. I do not ever remember seeing a popular film that was based so much on Kabbalah or Jewish mysticism....
Be Honest About Intelligent Design
I consider honesty a core value of the Christian faith: honesty with God, honesty with myself and certainly honesty with other people. It has been my experience that the "intelligent design" supporters are not being...
North Carolina Churches Help Louisiana Residents Celebrate Christmas in the Bayou
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina churches reached across racial, religious and geographical lines to express God's love to hurricane survivors in Southeast Louisiana. Lloyd Braswell, pastor of Hope...
Iraqi Christians in Peril this Christmas
Because of the poor security, Iraqi Christians had to celebrate midnight mass at sundown instead. Many Christians have fled Iraq for Syria and elsewhere, while others are afraid to go to the churches, which have been...
Handel Was Patron for Children’s Hospital
While listening to Handel's Messiah, consider how the great composer joined forces with William Hogarth, the artist, and Thomas Coram, a retired sea captain, for the sake of children in desperate need. Captain Coram...
Partridges and Pear Trees Come Every Christmas
On almost a daily basis I get inspiring and sometimes humorous e-mails from my old San Antonio buddy, Don Smith. Somewhere Don has come up with the history of a song that that I never understood as being a Christmas...
Happy Birthday Jesus
The scene takes place in heaven just at the conclusion of a surprise birthday celebration for Jesus. Several heavenly luminaries have just treated Jesus to cake and ice cream. As the party breaks up, Jesus and Gabriel...
Keeping Christmas in Christmas
I love Christmas--a lot. I always have. And so I get concerned about the integrity of the holiday. When I was a child, I remember some people getting upset because some of the stores were putting the message "Merry...
Pro-Wal-Mart Group Forms to Counter Critics
Wal-Mart supporters on Tuesday formed a steering committee of Working Families for Wal-Mart to talk about positive contributions of the retailer and counter criticism from Web sites like WakeUpWalMart.com and a popular...
Skipping Christmas
For centuries, Christians have celebrated the birth of Jesus by coming to church to sing, pray, remember, give thanks and recommit our lives to Christ. What were we thinking? The front-page news is that many of the...
Christians, Christmas Needs Jesus Back
It sure wouldn't be Christmas without the trees strapped to the tops of SUVs. It sure wouldn't be Christmas without crowded parking lots and lines at the cash register. And it sure wouldn't be Christmas without the...
Poll: Americans Have Mixed Feelings About Wal-Mart
Shoppers expressed mixed feelings about Wal-Mart, rating it a good place to shop but a poor place to work, in a new survey. A poll released last Thursday by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found...
‘King Kong’
As I child, I would stay up late on Saturday nights and watch "Shock Theater." It was a local show hosted by Paul Bearer, who screened old horror films. Yet one of those horror films was no horror at all: It was "King...
A ‘Spanglish’ Christmas
As all good theologians know, Heaven is a lot like a tropical island in the Caribbean, where cool gentle breezes refresh the land and the soul from the heat of the day. Hence Christmas is best celebrated in shorts and...
Herod Launched the First War on Christmas, and He Lost
Driving recently through a small town, I noticed the Christmas decorations on city streets. The banners hanging from the poles read "Holiday Greetings." These banners didn't appear to be new. They likely have been...
Religious Leaders Oppose Bush on Patriot Act
The National Council of Churches on Monday praised the U.S. Senate for Friday's vote declining to end a filibuster blocking renewal of the U.S.A. Patriot Act. President Bush blasted senators in a Monday press...
Why I Got Arrested this Advent Season
As a Christian, I cannot stand idly by during a time of increased poverty, war, and national tragedy as Congress attempts to cut billions of dollars to life-giving programs that assist our nation's most vulnerable,...
Judge Strikes Down Teaching of Intelligent Design
A federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled Tuesday that public schools cannot teach intelligent design as an alternative to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution in science classes. The ruling, which drew comparisons to the...
BCE Offers ‘Munich’ Movie Resource to Churches
The Baptist Center for Ethics has produced a free, on-line resource to help people in faith communities explore ideas of vengeance and peacemaking in a soon-to-be-released film about the terrorist murders of Israeli...
The Hope Of Christmas
For years we have used the Advent wreath as a way of deepening our understanding of the meaning of Christmas. Each Sunday during the Advent season we pause, light a candle, and reflect on what Christmas really means....