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Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Southern Baptists Reject Name-Change Study
The Southern Baptist Convention Tuesday night voted against a study on the possibility of a new name, an idea backed by leaders. Claude Thomas, a Texas pastor and former leader of the SBC Executive Committee, made a...
Baptisms Flat Despite ‘Conservative Resurgence,’ Patterson says
Twenty-five years into a movement aimed at restoring conservative doctrines, Southern Baptists continue to drift along year after year reporting a little over 400,000 baptisms, and the vast majority of those occur in a...
Baptist Speaker Contrasts Islam, Christianity
Islamic terrorists around the world don't have a hard time recruiting suicide bombers, because millions of Muslims believe dying a martyr's death in a holy war is their only assurance of heaven, according to a Liberty...
Moderates Not Celebrating ‘Conservative Resurgence’
Not many moderates will be found at this week's Southern Baptist Convention, which marks the 25th anniversary of what is alternately called the "conservative resurgence" or "fundamentalist takeover" of the nation's...
Dobson Gives Qualified Support to Anti-Public Schools SBC Resolution
Focus on the Family founder James Dobson says a proposed resolution calling for all Southern Baptists to pull their children out of public schools is too broad, but that leaving government schools is the best move in...
Baylor Benefactor Requests Forum on Sloan’s Leadership
A Houston multi-millionaire who says he will request return of all the money he has contributed and loaned to Baylor University unless the school's president is replaced is asking regents to hold an open discussion of...
The Changing Seasons of Life
They are everywhere, always with us. Anticipated or not. Welcome or not. Smooth or less so. Exciting. Challenging. Nearly always difficult. They are transitions, and they are a constant in life, particularly family...
Right Worship
The teenager in baggy pants, canned soft drink in hand, slunk into the sanctuary just before the worship service began. Occasionally he would take a sip (actually it was more like a chug) and then place the can under...
Public Schools as National Treasure, Not Enemies of God
Will the Southern Baptist Convention speak well of America's public schools next week in its annual meeting? Meeting in Indianapolis, the SBC's resolutions committee will consider two resolutions. One urges Southern...
Fact, Fiction, and Faith
For months now Dan Brown's novel The DaVinci Code has topped the best-seller list. There are a couple of reasons. For one thing, it's a pretty good mystery action story. But that is not all that's going on. Helping to...
“Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”
My father used to say that even a blind hog would find an acorn every once and a while. In my recent review of "Shrek 2," I wrote that most sequels are nothing more than dumbed-down copies of the original. My father...
Anti-Public School Resolution Gaining Support
A proposed resolution calling on Southern Baptists to abandon public schools has received two key endorsements on the eve of next week's Southern Baptist Convention. The resolution, which encourages parents to withdraw...
Public Interest Group to FTC: Investigate Interactive Ads
A non-profit organization dedicated to keeping digital media in the public interest has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate interactive advertising practices. The Washington, D.C.-based Center for Digital...
SBC Likely to Support Ban on Gay Marriage, Graham Says
Southern Baptist Convention president Jack Graham says he is "certain" there will be a "strong statement of support" for a federal constitutional amendment banning gay marriage at next week's annual convention meeting...
The Catholic Spirit
The divisions within Protestantism have bedeviled believers ever since the Reformation in the 16th century. In his recent novel, The Last Juror, John Grisham pokes fun at these divisions as he describes the life of...
Generation Ñ
Generation Ñ among the Hispanic young serves as a counterpart to the Euro-American Generation X. Latino/as create their own space because little if any room exists for them within the dominant culture. What...
Reagan Credited With Ushering In Religious Right
Political and religious leaders remembered former President Ronald Reagan as a formidable political force whose "revolution" transformed the Republican Party and enabled ascendancy of the religious right. Reagan, 93,...
The SBC Education Resolution: Setting the Record Straight
Editor's note: Due to interest in a Christian Education Resolution being proposed to next week's Southern Baptist Convention, EthicsDaily.com invited one of the resolution's sponsors, Houston attorney Bruce Shortt, to...
Southern Baptists and Public Schools
Not long ago a resolution made its way to the public forum from a couple of conservative Southern Baptists urging members of Southern Baptist churches to withdraw their children from public schools. As I kept watch on...
Study Finds Child Welfare Improving; Notes Alarm Over ‘Disconnected’ Youth
The overall well-being of American children has improved over the last five years, according to an annual report. While noting improvements in eight of 10 key indicators of child well-being, the 2004 Kids Count Data...
The Politics of Communion
Father Michael Sheridan, Bishop of Colorado, has raised the role of faith in politics to a new level of complexity. He announced recently that Catholics who vote for candidates who support issues such as abortion...