Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
‘Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy’
"Saturday Night Live" has spawned many stars. They break out from the cast and move off the stage and onto the screen. Chevy Chase began the exodus after the first season. He made lots of movies, most of which are...
‘The Terminal’
Tom Hanks is perhaps the most daring actor of his generation: He thought people would watch a movie about a man stranded on an island. He was right. "Cast Away" grossed more than $230 million. That's incredible,...
What’s in a Word?
Back when I was your age… What parent doesn't say—or at least think—that once in a while? Back when I was a child, my parents were very strict about several things—including forbidding the use of certain words. As a...
‘Passion’ Had Little Impact on Evangelism, Barna Says
Touted as "perhaps the best outreach opportunity in 2000 years," Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" had relatively little lasting impact on people's religious beliefs or practice, according to a Barna survey. The...
Leaders Rally Last-Minute Support for Marriage Amendment
A crowd reported at more than 10,000 showed up Sunday night for a simulcast television program at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tenn., aimed at swaying debate over a constitutional amendment to define marriage as...
‘Spider-Man 2’
One of the themes of comics is the "POW!" and "BIFF!" of battles between a superhero and a supervillain. These battles overshadow almost every other aspect of the comic. Instead of seeing adventure writ large on pages...
Religious Right’s Aim to ‘Restore’ Christian Nation Is Wrong
As we observed our 228th year of independence last week, I celebrated with concern for this great nation. The establishment of the first modern democracy in a world filled with kings, emperors and other potentates is a...
Why Baptists Need to Dialogue with Jews
Many Christians aren't quite sure what to do with the Jews. On the one hand, we share part of the Jewish Scripture and part of the Jewish history in such a way that they have become our Scripture and our history. Thus,...
Southern Baptist Leader Labels Putting Off Marriage Sinful
Males as young as 17 should already be thinking about marriage, a Southern Baptist leader said on a recent Campus Crusade for Christ radio program, calling it a "sin" for adults to purposely postpone getting hitched....
Ingredients for Peace
Our nation is at war. Neighborhoods are in turmoil. Political parties are at odds…even more than usual! Conflict is even popular amid our denominations and congregations in America. With so much conflict, perhaps it is...
Handle with Care
Unlike some people whose vocations require that they relocate frequently, I can count on one hand the number of times I have moved. Prior to moving to Nashville in late 2002, I had lived in the same city 19 years, the...
EthicsDaily.com Staffer Explores Consumption in Documentary
The average Nashvillian throws away a ton of garbage every year. Environmental activist John van der Harst throws away a pound. Van der Harst is the subject of a documentary film by Cliff Vaughn, culture editor for...
‘Dirty Pretty Things,’ ‘Joan of Arcadia,’ Others Win Humanitas Prizes
Nine writers earned $115,000 in prize money for scripts that "entertain and enrich" at yesterday's Humanitas Prize luncheon. More than 350 writers, directors, producers and movie industry executives gathered in Los...
Reagan Funeral Items Selling on eBay
Flags are back at full-staff now a month after Ronald Reagan's death June 5, but the push for a piece of history continues … on eBay, where folks are buying and selling items from the 40th president's funerary rites....
Baptists are Fouling Up Ice Cream
Combining church and state is like mixing ice cream and horse manure, according to noted Baptist preacher and author Tony Campolo. "It doesn't harm the manure," Campolo said, "but it sure fouls up the ice cream." As a...
Who Moved My Pulpit? A Hilarious Look at Ministerial Life
Many seminarians have been handed the ubiquitous free book of advice from the newly retired ministers' pen. The titles vary, but they have the same theme: What Seminary did not Teach You, or How to Survive on Staff at...
Fleecing the Flock
It may be that President Bush and his re-election campaign have finally found the limits of evangelical good will. The president's high-profile faith and open acknowledgement of Jesus as his favorite political...
‘Fahrenheit 9/11’
"Fahrenheit 9/11," the latest opus from guerilla filmmaker Michael Moore, is indeed what it has been cracked up to be: a full-on body slam of George W. Bush. That fact noted, it's still worth determining what value the...
Creative Director Departs American Bible Society’s Comics Imprint
Metron Press, the comic book division of the American Bible Society, has lost its creative director due to differences over the press' direction. Metron Press, the comic book division of the American Bible Society, has...
We stand amazed, and saddened: A statement on the SBC withdrawal from the BWA
It is with great sadness the Baptists in Europe learned of the decision of the Southern Baptists in the U.S.A. to withdraw their membership in the Baptist World Alliance. It has been clear for some time that the...
No Credible Evidence
PRESIDENT BUSH (2/8/03): "Saddam Hussein has longstanding, direct and continuing ties to terrorist networks. Senior members of Iraqi intelligence and Al Qaeda have met at least eight times since the early 1990s. Iraq...