Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Challenges the Next Pope Will Face
The death of Pope John Paul II creates a huge vacuum not only in the Roman Catholic Church, but also in the wider world of moral discourse. This pope was not afraid to bring his faith and his office to bear on...
We All Belong to the Same Family
Edgar Snow was born 100 years ago, the same year as my mother, but they never met. Most central Texas folks never heard of him. And fewer still ever read any of his writings. He was a well-educated Missouri boy who...
Murder Victim May Have Tried to Witness to Assailant
A 29-year-old Oklahoma woman was murdered March 21, allegedly by a hitchhiker that family and friends said she probably picked up so she could share a Christian witness with him. Amanda Bateman left her home in...
Baptist Newspaper Criticizes Seminary Maintenance Decision
The Kentucky Baptist Convention newspaper has published an editorial challenging Southern Seminary President Al Mohler's assertion that there is "no inconsistency" in the conservative seminary outsourcing its campus...
Alliance Moves Meeting to Host Lesbian Preacher
The Alliance of Baptists moved its April 1-3 convocation from First Baptist Church in Greenville, S.C., to Furman University, because some members of the church objected to an openly lesbian minister preaching in the...
‘Revelations’
"The greatest story ever told … has a final chapter." That's the tagline for NBC's new six-hour miniseries, "Revelations," which debuts April 13 at 9 p.m. ET. It will run on consecutive Wednesday evenings in "The West...
Hope Springs Eternal
For several weeks our box at the post office has been stuffed with catalogs from garden seed and nursery companies. Beautiful pictures of vegetables, fruits, and flowers fill my mind and heart with great expectations....
New ‘Ecumenism’ Unites Conservatives
While the old leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention generally avoided the ecumenical movement associated with the World Council of Churches and mainline Protestants in the 20th century, the new...
Remembering John Paul II
Pope John Paul II died April 2, ending the reign of the 265th pope. He was born Karol Wojytla in 1920 in the Polish village of Wadowice, 50 kilometers from Krakow. His father was a retired non-commissioned Polish army...
‘Sin City’
"Sin City" reminds me of one of Billy Preston's songs, "Will It Go 'Round in Circles." "I got a story, ain't got no moral," go the lyrics. "Let the bad guy win every once in a while." "Sin City" has no moral direction...
60 Percent of Dismissed Seminary Maintenance Workers Rehired
The private contractor taking over maintenance work at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has hired about 60 percent of the former seminary employees who took care of its facilities, the Louisville Courier-Journal...
Independent Baptists Cooperate, Reach Out to SBC
At a time when the Southern Baptist Convention is embracing fundamentalism, growing numbers of independent Baptists are warming to the idea of cooperation. One leader said only time will tell whether the convergence...
Oscar-Winning Documentary Subject of Ethics Complaints
This year's Oscar-winning short documentary is raising hackles for the way it used unmarked reenactments and other archival footage. "Mighty Times: The Children's March" took home the Academy Award Feb. 27 for its...
Baptist Leaders Praise Pope
Expressing admiration for a Catholic pope that would have been unthinkable a generation ago, Southern Baptist leaders praised Pope John Paul II for his opposition to abortion, euthanasia, stem-cell research and...
What Can We Learn from the Schiavo Case?
Unless you have been on silent retreat in another world this past month, you have experienced the media overload surrounding the tragic case of Terri Schiavo. As a pastor, I feel grief for a family whose internal...
Guess Who is Coming to Prayer Meeting
In a recent column I wrote about prayer at presidential inaugurations and suggested that if we must pray ceremonially, those prayers should reflect America's religious diversity. In other words, prayers at...
Losing the World’s Conscience, Gaining an Opportunity
The death of Pope John Paul II leaves the Christian community with both lament and apprehension—lament over the loss of the world's conscience and worry about who will speak with corresponding moral clarity. Baptists,...
Book Explores Religion, Public Life in the ‘Southern Crossroads’
Growing up in the 60s in north Louisiana, I was always noticing the angry billboards: GET US OUT OF THE U.N.! JESUS IS COMING SOON--ARE YOU READY? WATER FLUORIDATION ... A COMMUNIST PLOT. These insistent messages were...
Republican Leader Decries Influence of Religious Right
Former United States senator and U.N. ambassador John Danforth claims his Republican Party is being held hostage by the religious right. "By a series of recent initiatives, Republicans have transformed our party into...
The Annual Excuse for Being Late for Church
"My times are in thy [God's] hands," the Psalmist wrote. But the Psalmist had not heard about Daylight Saving Time. Beginning Sunday we will have more hours in which to work or play. (This does not pertain to those who...
Mohler Defends Contract with Gay-Friendly Firm
Southern Seminary President Albert Mohler says there is irony but no inconsistency in the fact that the conservative seminary is outsourcing its maintenance to a company that is friendly to homosexuals, according to a...