Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Seeing Stars in Your Religion?
Movie stars aren't just about paparazzi, private jets and plentiful cash. Some of them are also about religion. Mel Gibson's traditional Catholicism, which helped prod him into making "The Passion of the Christ," has...
Popular Psychic Writes Book on Prayer
One of America's most popular mediums recently authored a book on the uses of prayer. John Edward, former host of the Sci-Fi channel's "Crossing Over" TV show, has just completed Practical Praying: Using the Rosary to...
Illiterate Ethicist
My mother was illiterate and never had a chance to go to school. She fled Cuba for the United States during the political turbulence of 1958 with her infant son. What my mother lacked in formal education she made up...
Praying In Jesus’ Name
Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, senior minister of the Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Houston, has offered the benediction at both of President Bush's inaugurations. After the 2001 prayer, Rev. Caldwell was sharply...
WMU Leader Criticized for Addressing Breakaway Convention
Woman's Missionary Union leader Wanda Lee is drawing criticism for her scheduled appearance at a breakaway Missouri state convention refused recognition by the Southern Baptist Convention. The Missouri Baptist...
Schiavo Defender Allowed His Father to Die
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, the driving force behind an effort in Congress to intervene in a Florida right-to-die dispute, faced a similar decision 16 years ago when his father was diagnosed in a persistent...
Smokers Without Shame
While stopped at a traffic light on a busy highway exit, I noticed what look like a slight blanket of snow on the shoulder of the road. A closer look, however, revealed hundreds, if not thousands, of cigarette butts....
A Softer Movie but Still a Rugged Cross
Mel Gibson has released "The Passion of the Christ Recut" in theaters across the United States and Canada. About five minutes of the gruesome beating of Jesus has been cut from the film. Apparently Gibson took to heart...
Protestant Interest in Mary on the Rise
Most Christians recognize March 25 as Good Friday. But a growing number of Protestants also are taking note that this year it overlaps with the day of Annunciation. Long celebrated by Roman Catholics exactly nine...
Clothing Line Promotes Abstinence
Folks can now advertise their commitment to abstinence thanks to a clothing line that's getting more attention. Los Angeles-based Wait Wear sells t-shirts and, most interestingly, underwear with various messages...
Congressional Leaders Endorse Religious Right’s Agenda
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and Senate Majority Bill Frist promised that Republican leaders would work to implement the religious right's political agenda in a closed-door briefing with the Family Research Council,...
Baptist Woman Leans on Faith During Husband’s Imprisonment
On first meeting her, there appears to be nothing unusual about Sue Webster. She's 37 years old, lives in Birmingham, England, teaches in a local secondary school and has a 2-year-old daughter, Hadiya. She attends Six...
An Easter Prayer
The resurrection of Jesus is for most Christians the defining moment in the Christian faith. Without the resurrection Jesus would have been just a hapless victim of tyranny. His message of love, forgiveness and hope...
Autism and Easter
She was born perfect. She was born perfect. Second-born child with blonde hair, bright eyes and all the right sounds: "God had smiled on us," her mother said. Life was good. Halfway through her second year a sinister...
Baptist Woman Appeals for Husband in Army Prison
A British Baptist woman is campaigning for reversal of her husband's military prison sentence. A 20 year veteran of military service, U.S. Army Sgt. Abdullah William Webster was sentenced last June to 14 months...
Apocalypse Mini-Series Slated for NBC
The end of the world will be shown on NBC in April. "Revelations," what the network is calling "a six-hour event series," centers on the apocalypse, as foretold in the last book of Christian Scriptures. "Revelations,"...
SBC President Says Nashville Evangelism Blitz Could Spark ‘Great Awakening’
Sparked by evangelism efforts connected with this summer's Southern Baptist Convention, Nashville, Tenn., could become the epicenter of America's next great religious awakening, according to the convention's president....
IMAX Theaters Avoid Evolution
The large-screen IMAX format is encountering difficulty—not in terms of technology, but in terms of science and religion. Science documentaries that mention evolution are finding it more difficult to gain distribution...
Baptist Legislator Riles Blacks, Women
A moderate Baptist publisher turned conservative politician is making a name as a freshman member of the Georgia State Senate, sponsoring one bill that prompted a walkout by black legislators and another that critics...
Baptist Leader Suggests Youth Ministers Be Men
While official teaching of the Southern Baptist Convention is that women ought not lead churches as senior pastors, at least one seminary president says his preference would be that youth ministries also be male-led....
Carman Sharp’s Baptist DNA
More and more we read about DNA and its accuracy. Can we all agree that the DNA left by Carman Sharp finds him guilty of being a Baptist in the very best sense of the word? He knew that being Baptist meant you ought to...