Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
What Happens When Baptists, Muslims Work Together
The third North American Baptist-Muslim Dialogue at the American Baptist Assembly at Green Lake, Wisconsin, took place on April 16-19. What and why is that? A little backstory is needed. On Oct. 13, 2007, 138 Muslim...
Why It Matters When Your Church Segregates by Age
Buzzwords that show up in social media posts, newscasts and daily conversations are often vague. This inevitably results in misunderstanding when we say a word with a certain thing in mind and the person listening...
Why Your Church Should Abandon Strategy and Go Tactical
The powerful strategize; the powerless engage in tactics. So writes Emmanuel Katongole in his book, "Mirror in the Church - Resurrecting Faith after Genocide in Rwanda." People in power plan the way they want things to...
April 30, 2018
Onward Christian Soldiers: Right-Wing Christian Nationalists Launch Dramatic New Power Play (Salon) Status Threat, Not Economic Hardship, Explains the 2016 Presidential Vote (National Academy of Sciences) The Other...
The Sunday Challenge
By: Ginger Hughes In just a couple of hours, my house will most likely look as though something exploded. How do I know? Because it happens almost every week. Tiny shoes will be dumped out of the basket and onto the...
The Real Choice That Causes Poverty, Homelessness
Poverty and homelessness are choices. Before you close your browser window, upset that I am blaming impoverished and unhoused persons for poor choices that led to their predicament, hear me out. Poverty and...
Does Your Church Know Who Your Neighborhood Is?
We should add to the familiar question, "Who is my neighbor?" the less familiar inquiry, "Who is my neighborhood?" On the final night of a course on worship I've been teaching recently, we explored the extent to which...
Report: 90% of U.S. Adults Believe in Higher Power
While nearly 90 percent of U.S. adults believe in some kind of "higher power / spiritual force," only slightly more than half (56 percent) believe that higher power is "God as described in the Bible," according to a...
Let’s Ask an Honest Question: “Are We Racist?”
The repercussions of overt and systemic racism are once again echoing throughout the U.S. Recent headlines from Starbucks to golf courses reveal that discrimination based on race remains a contemporary reality. While...
Why You Must Cultivate a Generosity without Borders
First Lady Barbara Bush's funeral was an inspiring and, for a brief moment, refreshing display of a kinder, gentler time in U.S. politics. David Priess posted an amazing photo on his Twitter feed of each of the...
USCIRF: Religious Freedom Deteriorating in Many Nations
Religious freedom has continued to deteriorate in many nations over the past year, according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom's (USCIRF) annual report for 2018 released on April 25. "This...
April 26, 2018
U.S. Supreme Court Considers Religious Discrimination Issue in Travel Ban Case (Baptist Joint Committee) Redefining Religious Freedom as Religious Privilege (RNS) A Lynching Memorial is Opening. The Country Has Never...
Profiles in Goodwill: Joel Snider
Joel Snider is a coach for the Center for Healthy Churches. 1. Where did you grow up? West Virginia and Alabama. 2. What is your favorite verse, book or story in the Bible? Why? The Sermon on the Mount. I find it the...
When You Live with Autism, Mental Health 24/7/365
April is Autism Awareness Month. May is Mental Health Awareness Month. In our house, we don't need a designated month to make us aware. We live autism and fragile mental health 365 days a year. Out of our three...
Making the Biblical Case for Creation Care
Our climate is changing; the results of global warming are seen around the world. On a trip to the storm-ravaged Caribbean in October 2017, U.N. Secretary General AntoÌnio Guterres urged the world to implement the 2015...
April 25, 2018
Faithful Cite Religious Liberty in Challenges to Muslim Travel Ban (Baptist News Global) New Jersey Ruling Could Reignite Battle Over Church-State Separation (New York Times) Shrugging off Scandals, Evangelicals Look...
Small Acts With Big Love
By: Ginger Hughes Some days it all feels overwhelming to me. Does it to you? I watch the news and discover enough sadness and darkness to make me want to crawl back in the bed and pull the cover up over my head....
Waking up (at) Yellowstone
By John D. Pierce Yellowstone is waking up from its long winter nap. The snow is beginning to melt and the animals are starting to move about. The park’s summer splendor is early in the making. What if you (yes, YOU)...
At Tipping Point, We’ll Need an Ethics of Restoration
It appears that the U.S. is approaching a national tipping point that will mark a reorientation of our thinking on the matter of leadership. This will be a difficult time for many who have placed confidence in a cadre...
How Churches Must Move Forward on LGBTQ Debate
The debate taking place within churches across denominational lines regarding the inclusion of LGBTQ individuals and their relationships is more than familiar by now. On one side, there are traditionalists arguing in...
Ethical Fashion Practices Increase; Much Work Remains
There are costs for the goods we consume beyond what we pay at checkout. The hidden costs not reflected in the price tag on clothing items we purchase - including working conditions, wages, treatment of workers and...