Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
A Christian Nation
If America is a Christian nation, as many claim, what does that mean? How do we go about equating a particular religion to a particular political arrangement? One way is to simply do a head count. In 2000 over 77...
Baptismal Water is Thicker Than Blood
An extraordinary gathering of Baptists in Birmingham, England, took place last month. It was remarkable not just for the numbers gathered there--at least 12,000, and many more when day visitors are counted--but for the...
Jennings Instrumental in Coverage of ‘Munich Massacre’
Many people are remembering ABC news anchor Peter Jennings, who died Sunday from lung cancer. He was 67. Jennings was only 34 when he provided ABC with a unique perspective on the assault on Israeli athletes at the...
Forthcoming Book, Movie Show Man ‘Living Biblically’
Writer A.J. Jacobs has a mission: to obey the Bible literally for a full year. The senior editor at Esquire magazine will share the results of that endeavor in The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to...
Americans Split on ‘Culture of Life’ Issues
Americans are split over abortion but oppose the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Support for stem cell research is growing. And for the first time a majority believe gays should be able to enter into civil unions that give...
Finding Our Way in Iraq
Where are we going in Iraq? "We will stay the course, we will complete the job in Iraq," said President Bush on Thursday from his ranch in Crawford, Texas, at the start of his long retreat from the White House. His...
GuideStone Invested $60 Million in Companies with Sudan Connections
In 2004, GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, formerly known as the Annuity Board, invested over $60 million in corporations doing business in Sudan. Government-sponsored genocide in Sudan...
Leading Quietly: An Unorthodox Guide to Doing the Right Thing
Joseph Badaracco has delivered what is promised in the title. This is definitely "an unorthodox guide." Badaracco, a professor at Harvard Business School, writes against the grain of popular leadership authors who...
‘Murderball’
"Murderball" is further proof that some of the best stories on screen right now take documentary form. This 88-minute look at quadriplegic rugby players excels in two areas: challenging what you think you know, and...
Anti-Poverty Campaign Targets Debt, Trade
The Make Poverty History campaign sees the effectiveness of aid as being hampered by crippling debt repayments as well as unfair trade rules. The Make Poverty History campaign sees the effectiveness of aid as being...
Dobson Compares Stem-Cell Research to Nazi Experiments
Focus on the Family's James Dobson said Wednesday that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist betrayed pro-life voters with his flip-flop on stem cells, comparing the destruction of human embryos for research to experiments...
Church Growth Expert Nominated to Lead SBC Publishing House
A 50-year-old seminary professor, author and consultant on church growth is being recommended as the next president of LifeWay Christian Resources, the Southern Baptist Convention publishing house. A nine-member search...
‘The Chronicles of Narnia’
My first real experience as an actor was in a sixth-grade production of H.G. Wells' The Invisible Man. Our teacher had the brilliant idea of staging it as a radio play, broadcast to the entire school over the intercom...
‘Full-Quiver’ Baptists Say No to Contraception
Southern Seminary President Al Mohler recently charged married couples who decide to remain childless are guilty of "moral rebellion" against God's design. "Marriage, sex, and children are part of one package," Mohler...
British Baptist Leaders Support ‘Make Poverty History’ Campaign
Last week Baptists from some of the poorest countries in the world met with those from some of the richest to celebrate their unity and affirm their common cause and identity at the Baptist World Alliance Centenary...
Called To A Higher Standard
There is hypocrisy and then there is hypocrisy--and then there is this. Two conservative Christian groups are warning the U.S. Senate that Supreme Court Justice nominee John Roberts should not be subjected to any sort...
CBF’s Postcard and Poverty
Before Grapevine disappears in the rearview mirror for supporters of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, I want to sound two notes as we move toward next year. First is a note of commitment. I will be in Atlanta for...
Bush Sides with Religious Right on Intelligent Design
President Bush on Monday said schools should teach both evolution and "intelligent design," siding with conservative Christians involved in controversies over science textbooks in school districts across the nation....
A Prominent Group Missing at the Centenary Baptist World Congress
Even after the terrible bombings that have left the city of London on edge, more than 10,000 undeterred Baptists from around the world gathered in Birmingham, England, last week for the centennial celebration of the...
Frist Deserves Applause, Breaks from Bush and Religious Right over Stem Cells Research
Sen. Frist took a needed step forward for medical research when he announced Friday his support for expanded federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, using frozen embryos left over at fertility clinics that...
Frist Breaks With Religious Right Over Stem Cell Research
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist risked alienating the religious right, a constituency many say he needs to carry to be elected president in 2008, by announcing on the Senate floor on Friday that he supports federal...