Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Church-State Group Files IRS Complaint Against Arkansas Church
For the second time in a week, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State has asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate a Southern Baptist church for allegedly violating laws that prohibit...
A New Bishop with an Old Idea for a New Day
The North Alabama Conference of United Methodists will soon have a new bishop in place. He is well known in Christian circles, especially among clergy. His views are innovative and yet in many ways traditional. You...
Craftsmanship We Should Ignore
Coming soon to a venue near you: a rally focusing on a 5,280-pound granite monument of the Ten Commandments. The American Veterans Standing for God and Country, a Texas-based group, recently reached an agreement with...
Baylor Regents Decline Vote on Sloan
Baylor University regents decided not to vote on retaining President Robert Sloan, according to media reports. A report on the Dallas Morning News Web site says Provost David Jeffrey emerged from Friday's regents...
Mission Trips
Thousands of Baptists will travel this summer to a distant location to share the gospel. For some it will be a trip across their state, others will travel to another part of our nation, and still others will make a...
Staton Apparent Winner in Primary for Georgia Senate
Baptist publisher Cecil Staton Wednesday afternoon appeared headed for a fall election pitting him against a fellow Baptist in his bid for the Georgia State Senate. Staton, president of Smyth & Helwys Publishing in...
Conversations That Matter
When 27-year-old Terri Schindler Schiavo collapsed in her home on Feb. 25, 1990, neither she nor her family could have imagined the course of events that would tear her family apart and bring the attention of the world...
Fogging the Difference: Southern Baptists and Strategies of Jewish Evangelism
"Here are some words to substitute when talking to Jewish friends and neighbors about your faith," proposes Home Mission: "Use immersion, not baptism. Use Messiah, not Christ. Use congregation, not church. Use...
Baylor President May Face Ouster Vote
Baylor University's president could face a third vote on his leadership in less than a year this week, and this time his opponents say they have enough votes to fire him, Texas media are reporting. Will Davis, chairman...
More Than Half of Americans Have Seen or Plan to See ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’
More than half of Americans either have seen or plan to see Michael Moore's controversial documentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11," with its message highly critical of President Bush, according to Tuesday's Gallup Poll. Eight...
EthicsDaily.com Now Offers Streaming Video
EthicsDaily.com now offers streaming media viewing. Video highlights of a June 25 Baptist-Jewish luncheon sponsored by the Baptist Center for Ethics and a trailer from "Immaterial John," a documentary film by...
Falwell Says Wallis Isn’t an Evangelical
Jerry Falwell told a fellow minister on a national radio program that he isn't really an evangelical because he isn't voting for George W. Bush. Falwell, pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va., appeared...
Movies Underwent ‘Ratings Creep’ in Last Decade, Harvard Study Finds
Today's PG-13 movies approximate R movies from 1992, according to recent findings. Violence, sex and profanity increased in movies of the same rating from 1992 to 2003, effectively creating a "ratings creep," according...
Trumping the Gospel
Every human--regardless of their race, gender, economic class, nationality, religious faith or sexual orientation--is created in the image of God, what theologians call the imago Dei. My Native American friends are...
Consumer Group Urges Senate to Investigate ‘Neuromarketing’
Corporations may no longer have to guess which marketing campaigns will click with our brainwaves. They may know—because science will tell them. A controversial new field called "neuromarketing" is attracting the...
Falwell Endorsement of Bush Prompts Challenge of Tax-Exempt Status
A church-state watchdog group reported Jerry Falwell to the Internal Revenue Service, saying the influential Southern Baptist pastor broke the law by using his tax-exempt organization to endorse President Bush for...
Proposal Sparks Debate Over Baptists and Creeds
A call to unify Baptists by reciting the Apostles' Creed at a global gathering next year is proving divisive for some. "Fundamentalists are not the only creedalists within the Baptist camp," Bruce Prescott of...
American Baptists Fire Mission Leader
A year and a day after his unanimous election to head American Baptists' international mission enterprise, Hector M. Cortez found himself out of a job. American Baptist Churches, U.S.A., Board of International...
The One and Only
"Run faster, jump higher," the television commercial many years ago teased. Children were convinced they could achieve greater levels of speed and height simply by wearing a particular brand of shoes. My mother bought...
Holiday Inn Express Theology
In philosophy it's known as "misplaced authority." I prefer calling it "the Holiday Inn Express experience." You know the ads. Staying at a Holiday Inn Express is such a smart travel move that those who stay there are...
Wired for Ministry
Pastors and other Christian leaders often find themselves treading water in the rising flood of technology and its ministry applications. They ponder how the digital revolution can enhance community and...