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Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Former Baptist Foundation of Arizona Official Makes Deal
The former bookkeeper of the defunct Baptist Foundation of Arizona pleaded guilty on Wednesday to one count of attempting to assist a crime syndicate and agreed to testify against remaining defendants in court. Harold...
NCC President Replies to Bush
It is commendable for President Bush to apologize for the mistakes made in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. We welcome his pledge to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. We celebrate his promise to address the...
‘Ben-Hur’ DVD Re-Release Targets Christians
A new collector's edition DVD of the biblical epic "Ben-Hur" comes not only with four discs and loads of special features, but also a Bible study guide. "Ben-Hur," the 1959 movie starring Charlton Heston that won 11...
Homosexuality Divides American Baptists
After arguing about homosexuality for more than a decade, American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A. now appears headed toward schism. Directors of the American Baptist Churches of the Pacific Southwest voted Sept. 8 to...
What Do a President and Prophet Say About a National Day of Prayer?
President Bush has declared Friday, Sept. 16, as a National Day of Prayer and Remembrance for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. "I ask that the people of the United States and places of worship mark this National Day...
Tennessee Baptists Reject Covenant with University
The Tennessee Baptist Convention Executive Board on Tuesday rejected a proposal by Belmont University trustees to include non-Baptist Christians on their board. Trustees of the Nashville-based school in August...
‘Emily Rose’ Plumbs Depths of Religion
More and more, Hollywood is going after "Passion" dollars. That is the people who paid to see "The Passion of the Christ." Mel Gibson's controversial 2004 movie, which grossed more than $370 million in the United...
Preventing Theological Disaster
In 430 A.D., as Augustine lay dying in Hippo, waves of Vandals came crashing on the city gates. Augustine and his city clung to life by a thread. Leading the defense of Hippo was Augustine's old friend, the Roman...
Church Under Hitler Viewed as Cautionary Tale
Christianity's role in the Holocaust should be a cautionary tale for the church today, panelists and audience members said Tuesday at a screening of a new documentary titled "Theologians Under Hitler." "Being on the...
God Will Make a Way
Jim, an 84-year-old native of Aliceville, Ala., declared at the drug store last week that the wind that came through with Katrina was the strongest he had ever experienced. Most people in our west Alabama county lost...
‘Omar & Pete’
The PBS series "P.O.V." continues its winning streak tonight with "Omar & Pete," an hour-and-a-half documentary about the struggle to forsake a life of crime and addiction and be reintegrated to society. Set in...
Texas Governor Mum on Pastor’s Comment About Katrina ‘Purifying’ America
Texas Gov. Rick Perry remained mum after sharing the podium at two get-out-the-vote rallies with a black Southern Baptist preacher who wondered if God sent Hurricane Katrina "to purify our nation." "I'm raising the...
Hurricane Katrina Revealed America at Its Best and Worst
The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in the southeastern United States cut two ways. It rallied Americans in showings of compassion and national unity rivaling, if not surpassing, those following the terrorist attacks of...
Katrina: Responsibility, Theirs and Ours
Clergy of all faiths will be asked many theological questions concerning the Katrina disaster. It is no wonder that the biblical texts give us guidance in this area. The Bible states, "The mysteries belong to God."...
We Need a Good Government Reflective of the Goodness of Americans
America needs a government as good as the best of the American people—the police officers, firefighters, soldiers, civic leaders and volunteers who showed courage and gave sacrificially to meet human needs in an...
‘Echoes of Innocence’
"Echoes of Innocence" is really a fascinating piece of film work—not because it's an incredible movie, but because of what it represents. The movie, which opens in select theaters across the country Friday, focuses on...
‘The Exorcism of Emily Rose’
In the late 1960s, a young German woman named Anneliese Michel began exhibiting bizarre behavior. Unable to control her mind and body, Michel's condition soon led to diagnoses of epilepsy and depression. When...
Katrina: A Race ‘Parable-In-The-Making’
With Hurricane Katrina, the thin veneer called American equality peeled away from the water-logged homes of black Americans in New Orleans. Left exposed was something American Christians are ill-equipped to deal with:...
Democratic Leader Says Race a Factor in Disaster
Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean told a black Baptist group meeting in Miami that race was a factor in the death toll from Hurricane Katrina. Speaking Wednesday to the National Baptist Convention of...
Fundamentalists View Hurricane Katrina as God’s Punishment
Religious fundamentalists from all three major faiths argue that Hurricane Katrina's destruction on the southern coast of the United States was part of God's punishment on America. While reasons for God's retribution...
Twin Tragedies Reveal the Need for Community
We find ourselves wedged between twin tragedies this week. The wound of Katrina is still fresh and bleeding. Order is slowly beginning to appear out of the chaos, but painfully slow. The grisly business of counting up...