Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Is Religious Right All Bark and No Bite?
Has the raging thunder of the religious right for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage turned into an empty threat? "Just four months after an alliance of conservative Christians was threatening a churchgoer...
Daryl Cagle’s Professional Cartoonists Index
A picture is worth a thousand words? How about a cartoon … The Iraq war is spawning more than just controversial pictures. It's also generating a bevy of editorial cartoons across the globe. Those who enjoy the...
Cruise Line Hosting ‘Gay Days’ Event Also Used by SBC Leaders
Carnival Cruise Lines, criticized for hosting a "Gay Days Cruise" prior to this June's Gay Days 2004 in Orlando, Fla., is also hosting a Bible study cruise in January featuring Southern Baptist Convention leaders. News...
Smokers to Kick Habit on Reality Show
Many people try to quit smoking, and this fall a handful will try to kick the habit as part of a reality show. "Cold Turkey," a 10-episode series for PAX TV, will sequester several smokers for three weeks and chronicle...
Editors Under Fire
To say these are times that try editors' souls is but a mild observation concerning Baptists today. Baptist newspapers are being stripped of courageous editors. Some of them are still in our midst. You can tell the...
Baylor President Narrowly Survives Vote
Problems persist for embattled Baylor University President Robert Sloan. The Waco Tribune-Herald reported on Saturday that Sloan survived a secret-ballot vote by the university's board of regents by one vote. The paper...
Bring the Soldiers Home
"Lay all your cards on the table," I once exhorted my hearers, seeking to enhance their sense of dedication to Jesus. I was a student preacher at the time and my mentor later suggested I avoid sermonic images and...
Prison Scandal: Bad Apples or Bad Policy?
After the pictures of Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal spread around the world, President Bush said in an interview with Al Arabiya Television that the actions were "abhorrent" and did not represent America. "They...
The Right Way
As a 3-year-old picking cotton alongside her mother in south Louisiana, Sherian Cadoria learned to remove the seeds from each boll, because clean cotton sold for more. And she learned to do it right. When Mrs. Cadoria...
Christian-Education Supporters Criticize Anti-Public School Resolution
A resolution calling for Southern Baptists to exit public schools could face an uphill battle, if supporters of church- and home-based education attending a meeting in one state are any indication. Church leaders at a...
A Stray Cow Bellowing in the Woods
What's that old expression? "Here we go again!" I'm routinely amused and sometimes saddened by the antics of some of my fellow Southern Baptists. With every Southern Baptist Convention, I think that the absurdities and...
Stealing Jesus
Mel Gibson's movie "The Passion of the Christ" continues to set box office records. Hyped as one of the most powerful evangelistic tools ever made, a big chunk of Gibson's earnings are the direct result of church...
Proposed Resolution a Departure from History of SBC Support for Public Schools
The Southern Baptist Convention has a long record of support for public education but has in recent years grown increasingly antagonistic toward state-run schools, according to an analysis of SBC resolutions. A...
Controversial Christian General Named in Prisoner-Abuse Scandal
An Army general criticized last fall for making anti-Muslim remarks in evangelical churches is now being linked to the prison-abuse scandal in Iraq. A Senate hearing into alleged abuse at Abu Ghraib prison heard...
‘Van Helsing’
There was a time when most TV stations ran old monster movies. Usually on a Saturday night, kids would stay up late to see Bela Lugosi's Dracula, Boris Karloff's Frankenstein and Lon Chaney's Wolfman. These old movies...
Climate Disaster Movie Warms Up Controversy
A new disaster movie from the maker of "Independence Day" won't hit theaters until May 28, but the buzz about its relevance to current environmental issues is already here. "The Day After Tomorrow," an effects-laden...
Rank of ‘Unchurched’ Nearly Doubled Since 1991
The number of "unchurched" Americans has nearly doubled since 1991, according to a recent survey by The Barna Group. Thirty-four percent of U.S. adults say they have not attended a Christian church service--other than...
Could Pursuit of Justice Prevent Terrorist Attacks?
The 9/11 Commission will continue to focus on intelligence failures. But the American people should also be asking whether foreign policy mistakes were made--and whether the cooperative pursuit of justice could prevent...
Musicians Challenge College Students to Fight AIDS
Every day in Africa, 6,500 people die from the HIV/AIDS virus--and people are beginning to notice. Dan Haseltine of the Christian band Jars of Clay wants to bring the Christian community face-to-face with its...
Iraq By The Numbers
According to Gen. Tommy Franks of the U.S. Central Command in Iraq, "We don't do body counts." But because God cares when even a sparrow falls, God counts bodies. If Jesus' purpose for coming was to provide an abundant...
Anti-Public School Resolution Gets Boost From Publicity
An anti-public school resolution proposed to the Southern Baptist Convention is receiving early media attention thanks to a pre-convention publicity campaign. One of the resolution's two authors, Houston attorney Bruce...