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Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Baptists Oppose Video Lottery Terminals in Texas
Baptist leaders in Texas are speaking out against a proposal by Gov. Rick Perry to allow Video Lottery Terminals at the state's horse-racing tracks and Native American tribal lands as a way to raise funds for...
Theologian in Chief
As president, Mr. Bush commands the armed forces of the United States. His title in this function is "commander in chief." As a Christian, Mr. Bush says he takes his faith in Jesus seriously. However, the office of...
Acknowledging Responsibility
It was a moving moment. In the 9-11 Commission hearing, former Counterterrorism Director Richard Clarke turned toward family members of those who had been killed and said: "Your government failed you…. And I failed...
Credit-Card Debt Burdens Americans, According to Gallup Poll
The average American owes $2,900 in credit-card debt, and that includes one in five Americans who don't own a credit card, according to a new survey. Among credit-card holders, the unpaid balance averages $3,815. Just...
Baptist Medical/Dental Fellowship Denies Distancing From SBC
Leaders of the Baptist Medical/Dental Fellowship disputed charges by a former president that the group is moving away from conservatives in the Southern Baptist Convention and toward the moderate Cooperative Baptist...
A Clear Choice
The college group in a conservative Southern church faced a dilemma. One of the young women in the group was unmarried and pregnant. The child's father had denied his responsibility and refused to marry her. The young...
Evangelicals View Themselves as Mainstream, Yet Marginalized
Evangelicals believe they are a part of the mainstream in the United States, yet feel they are looked down on by other Americans, according to a survey conducted for the PBS show "Religion & Ethics Newsweekly" and...
Presidential Meekness as Sign of Strength
How can President Bush redeem his stumbling performance at this week's press conference? Holding only the third prime-time press conference of his presidency, Bush faced a room of confrontational journalists, who, as a...
Victoria’s Secret Scraps ‘Fashion’ Show
Victoria's Secret won't be showing off its latest lingerie on a network show—not this year, anyway. Limited Brands, which owns Victoria's Secret, has decided to scrap plans for its "Victoria's Secret Fashion Show,"...
Ten Commandments Rally Raises Church-State Concern
Nearly 5,000 people attended a Ten Commandments Rally in Dallas April 3 to discuss the "importance of God in politics," the Dallas Morning News reported. But a Baptist ethics leader later raised concerns about the...
‘My Faith in Frankie’
Some children grow up with imaginary friends as part of the process of psychosocial development. But Frankie Maxon is different. She grew up with a personal god. "My Faith in Frankie" is a four-issue comics series by...
Memphis-based Association Eyes Expansion Into Regional Group
Shelby Baptist Association in Memphis, Tennessee, is seeking to expand into a regional Mid-South Baptist Association of Churches, reaching deep into neighboring states in an effort to bolster church-starting and...
Baptist Medical/Dental Fellowship President Resigns over CBF Partnership
The president of the Baptist Medical/Dental Fellowship says he is resigning his office immediately and withdrawing as a member of the volunteer organization because of a recent agreement expanding and formalizing the...
Kimball Urges Humility in Asserting Truth Claims
In his book When Religion Becomes Evil, author Charles Kimball lists "absolute truth claims" as just the first of five warning signs of corrupt religion. In about 40 hours of radio interviews in which he discussed the...
SBC Shows Incremental Growth
The Southern Baptist Convention is showing incremental growth in total membership and the number of churches, while baptisms continue to decline, a trend one denominational leader viewed as a warning sign that the...
Meeting with BWA Leaders Doesn’t Alter SBC Proposal to Sever Ties
Southern Baptist leaders are still recommending that the Southern Baptist Convention withdraw from membership in the Baptist World Alliance after a six-hour meeting with BWA representatives Tuesday in Nashville, Tenn....
‘The Ladykillers’
Joel and Ethan Coen make iconoclastic movies. Theirs is a strange world inhabited by Bikers from Hell, dumb kids who become executives, and erudite convicts on mythic journeys. "The Ladykillers" is a remake of a...
Graphic Anti-Smoking Ad Impacts Smokers in Britain
A British anti-smoking ad, described by some as "revoltingly graphic," has managed to stay on the airwaves and even affect smokers. The minute-long ad, called "Artery," shows people in a bar drinking and smoking. The...
Is CEO Greed Fueling U.S. Industry?
Two weeks ago Johnson Controls, following a trend all too common throughout the United States, announced it was shutting down its operations in my small town of Holland, Mich., and moving to Ramos Arizpe, Mexico, where...
Baptist Medical/Dental Fellowship President Resigns over CBF Partnership
The president of the Baptist Medical/Dental Fellowship says he is resigning his office immediately and withdrawing as a member of the volunteer organization because of a recent agreement expanding and formalizing the...
Ministers Need Break to Honor Body, Author Says
Ministers need time off--not only for their physical and mental health--but also as a spiritual practice of honoring their body, says a Harvard Divinity School teacher who has written a book exploring the relationship...