Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Church Posting Anti-Muslim Message Leaves SBC
The North Carolina church that made recent headlines with its sign declaring "The Koran needs to be flushed," has left the Southern Baptist Convention to become an independent Baptist church. According to the Biblical...
Screen Potential: An Interview With Steven D. Martin
Pastor Steven D. Martin went to First United Methodist Church in Oak Ridge, Tenn., to start a contemporary worship service. He had done that before, but as he contemplated the large screen at the new church, he felt...
Study Says Abortion Decline Continues
The rate of decline in abortions slowed during President Bush's first term, but abortions did not increase, contradicting earlier and widely quoted claims by a Baptist ethicist. Glenn Stassen of Fuller Theological...
A Crusade for National Power
When tempted by Satan in the desert, Jesus was promised all the kingdoms of the earth in exchange for worshipfully bowing down to the Prince of Darkness. Jesus refused Satan's temptation of political power. Later,...
‘Cinderella Man’
The name "Cinderella Man" was given to Depression-era boxer James J. Braddock by journalist Damon Runyon, and Runyon's assessment of Braddock's story as one of the greatest in the history of sports begins one of the...
Vanity Revisited
"Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity." Thus begins Ecclesiastes. "You're so vain, you probably thing this song is about you," sings Carly Simon. "You're so vain, I'll bet you...
Family Group Calls for Boycott of Ford
A week after declaring its nine-year boycott of the Walt Disney Company over, the American Family Association on Monday announced it was turning its sights on the world's second-largest auto maker. The Tupelo,...
‘Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room’
The new documentary "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" opens with a shot of the Enron building in Houston. A church spire wrapped in a banner reading "Jesus Saves" peeks into frame. That single image calls up...
Proposed SBC Resolution Decries Public Schools as ‘Toxic’
A second resolution this year criticizing public schools has been submitted to the Southern Baptist Convention Resolutions Committee. The director of an organization that offers Christian alternatives to public...
Colson Criticizes ‘Deep Throat’
Former White House aide Charles Colson says President Nixon would be "horrified" to learn that the identity of the anonymous source "Deep Throat"--who helped two Washington Post reporters expose the Watergate scandal...
Stem Cell Debate Fosters Mendacity
A new odor of mendacity oozed from the White House last week when President Bush held a reception for the 21 families who have adopted or given up for adoption frozen embryos. "Rather than discard these embryos created...
‘New Testament’ Tank Name Criticized
A military Web site has removed a photo originally cleared by government censors of a tank in Iraq carrying the name "New Testament" on the barrel of its main gun. The photo showed a 70-ton, M1A1 Abrams tank with the...
SBC Leaders Intervened to Encourage Removal of Anti-Muslim Church Sign
The pastor of a North Carolina Baptist church says he took down an anti-Muslim sign that made national headlines after four Southern Baptist Convention officials called to say the message might put missionaries...
A Rural Church Looks To the Future
The pastor at Mount Pleasant resigned nearly four years ago, saying that he felt that God was telling him that his ministry there was over. Everyone was in shock. He had served the church for 34 years as a...
Resolution on Homosexuality in Schools Wins Endorsements
A resolution being proposed at next month's Southern Baptist Convention asking churches to investigate homosexual influences in public schools has picked up endorsements from conservative organizations. Mission...
‘Theologians Under Hitler’
The relationship between religion and politics continues to draw the public's attention. The public might be well served to revisit that relationship's history—specifically the chapter involving the Third Reich. A new...
‘Nightline’ to Remember War Dead
U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan will again be recognized by ABC News. "The Fallen," a special version of ABC's "Nightline" with Ted Koppel, will feature the names and faces of American soldiers killed in...
War Dead Remembered on Memorial Day
Two U.S. soldiers were killed Thursday night when their helicopter went down near Baquba, 40 miles northeast of Baghdad. One of the two, who died when their helicopter was shot down and crashed in central Iraq, was...
A Little Child Shall Lead
In our church most Sundays, we have a time set aside in the worship service for what we call Children's Church. Our associate pastor, Jana Kinnersley, leads this time, and she requires all the small children to come...
‘Freedom Fries’ Backer Now Opposes War in Iraq
A politician who in March 2003 demanded that congressional cafeterias rename french fries to "freedom fries" now says the United States went to war in Iraq "with no justification." Walter Jones, R-N.C., was one of two...
Live Liver Donor Case on Death Row Raises Questions
Gregory Scott Johnson was killed by the State of Indiana at 12:01 a.m., May 25, 2005. He died with liver intact, and all his organs remained that way following declaration of death. The would-be organ donor was not...