Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
BCE Announces Conference on Faith and Politics
People of faith who feel at home neither with the religious right nor the secular left will gather May 2-3 in Nashville to carve out a third way in bringing their moral values to bear in public policy. Former U.S. Sen....
Supreme Court to Hear Ten Commandments Disputes
The Supreme Court on Wednesday hears two cases on what it means when the government displays the Ten Commandments. The two cases could affect dozens of lower court decisions across the country on whether posting the...
Ten Reasons Not To Display the Ten Commandments
After avoiding the issue for about as long as possible, the Supreme Court will finally take on public displays of the Ten Commandments. The high court will review two cases this term, one involving a monument on the...
‘Stolen Childhoods’
Filmed over seven years across seven countries, "Stolen Childhoods" examines the crisis of child labor—crisis, because a quarter of a billion children remain slaves to work. Production on the 85-minute documentary was...
The Baptist Version of Mother Teresa
CHENNAI, India--While many Christians from America and elsewhere have responded generously with gifts to relief efforts since the Dec. 26 tsunami, how many would borrow money for victims without knowing how they would...
Book Details Planting of African-American Churches
I recently came across an interesting volume dealing with early church life among the Freedmen in the South. In 1895, just 30 years after the end of the Civil War and freedom, Dr. C. O. Boothe wrote and published...
Tsunami Donor Expectations Are Unrealistic, Says Baptist Leader
American and European donors often have unrealistic expectations about the rapid expenditure of their tsunami-related contributions, say those engaged in relief work and seeking a responsible use of funds. "Our donors...
Wallis, Colson Trade Barbs in Columns
Jim Wallis gets it wrong, Prison Fellowship founder Charles Colson wrote in his Feb. 21 BreakPoint column. That prompted an open-letter response from the founder and editor of Sojourners and author of a new book, God's...
Raising a Jug of Crown Royal in Victory Lane
NASCAR and the NBA are traveling in opposite directions on the issue of alcohol. Recently the NBA announced that it is bouncing alcohol sales in the fourth quarter in order to curb improper conduct. Apparently someone...
Baptists and Buddhists Work Together in Sri Lanka
BERUWALA, Sri Lanka--An inter-religious flag representing Christians, Buddhists and Muslims sits atop a newly erected memorial to the 136 tsunami-related deaths in Beruwala, Sri Lanka. The metal sculpture has hands...
Soulforce Challenges Dobson on Gays
The gay-rights group headed by the Rev. Mel White is accusing Focus on the Family's James Dobson of spreading "misinformation" about homosexuals through his radio broadcasts and political involvement. Soulforce on...
Quotations Track Church’s Anti-Woman Legacy
"I am not giving permission for a woman to teach or to tell a man what to do. A woman ought not to speak, because Adam was formed first and Eve afterwards, and it was not Adam who was led astray but the woman who was...
Hungarian Baptist Aid Contributes ‘Presence’ in Tsunami Relief
Two days after the tsunami struck Sri Lanka, a seven-person medical team from Hungarian Baptist Aid arrived on the tear-shaped island to the southeast of India, starting work in the capital of Colombo and then moving...
Moderate Baptist Leaders to Discuss ‘New Day’
Representatives of five Baptist organizations with histories of resisting fundamentalism in the Southern Baptist Convention share a platform to discuss a common future at this weekend's Mainstream Baptist Network...
If It Was a Fable, Let It Continue
There was a certain pride of station when I wore the maroon uniform of a Lyric Theater usher. That was a time when theater ushers actually helped people find a seat during the film. In those days you could buy a ticket...
Creating a Culture of Life
During President Bush's address to the 2005 Washington March for Life last month, he praised the efforts of anti-abortion activists thanking them for "the civil way you have engaged one of America's most contentious...
CBF Invites Comments on Partner Study Report
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship will hold a period for open comment on a proposal to define the way the moderate organization relates to partner ministry organizations. After 19 months of work, a CBF Partner Study...
Tsunami Relief Gifts Set Records
Gifts to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship tsunami relief fund surpassed $890,000 in January, making it the largest response to a CBF relief effort to date. Funds approaching $1 million will allow the CBF to move...
News You Possibly Missed or Ignored
While getting over the Chinese feast my wife cooked as we celebrated Chinese New Year last Wednesday, I found a few things the whole world might have overlooked in recent weeks. 1. There is now an environmentally...
Wrestling With Controversy
Shortly before being murdered, Archbishop Romero said, "Those who have voice must speak for the voiceless." This is what it means to raise consciousness, raise awareness. But raising awareness within the safety of...
The Bible, Marriage and Politics
Alabama State Representative Alvin Holmes is offering $5,000 to anyone who can show him in the Bible where it states that marriage is only between a man and a woman. The offer comes in response to the state...