Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Playing God at the End of Life
When death approaches, what does it mean to "play God"? Usually "playing God" is used as a pejorative critique of a choice to take more authority than is any human's to take. Usually the emotive expression "playing...
Changing Curriculum Takes Courage: Part 4
While Sunday school class dynamics depend on several things including teachers, members and their life experiences, they also grow out of curriculum. Quality curriculum in the hands of gifted teachers and involved...
“The Quiet American”
"The Quiet American" reminds viewers that taking a human life is never as simple as black and white, good and evil. "The Quiet American" is exactly the kind of film that needs to be playing in multiplexes, and should...
MCCer a Witness in Baghdad as War Nears
Since March 2002, Mennonite Central Committee worker Edward Miller has been living in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, offering the solitary witness of an American Christian to the Iraqi people. The child of MCC workers,...
Education Dept. Releases New School Prayer Guidelines
According to new guidelines set forth by the Department of Education, schools could lose government funding for hindering students' prayers. Released by the department Feb. 7, the guidelines vary somewhat from earlier...
Changing Curriculum Takes Courage: Part 3
The decision to change the adult Sunday school curriculum in a church affects not only class members and teachers but also ministerial and office staff, the church treasurer, the Sunday school director and even people...
SBC Presidents Before 1979: Just How Liberal Were They?
Revisionist historians in Baptist life sometimes argue that moderates controlled the Southern Baptist Convention prior to the election of Adrian Rogers in 1979, squeezing conservative voices out of leadership...
Foreign Papers: Peace Marchers Pressure Allied Leaders
A number of foreign newspaper editorials said the massive peace demonstrations around the world created political hardships for government leaders pushing for a war against Iraq. "Middle England was on the march as...
Muslims Divided Between Shia, Sunni
The first words a baby hears after birth is the word of witness. The last words a person is supposed to hear before death is the word of witness. It is supposed to be a unifying statement among the world's one billion...
Changing Curriculum Takes Courage: Part 2
Changing Sunday school curriculum seems complicated for some churches because different curriculum publishers follow different publishing cycles. Lifeway, for example, produces its dated curriculum in quarterly cycles...
Changing Curriculum Takes Courage: Part 1
Whether it's bread, cars, laundry detergents or wireless service, consumers want options. Churches want options for Sunday school curriculum, too. A product that used to require only a shelf or two—bread—now occupies...
European Union Constitution Won’t Mention God
The European Union's newly composed constitution won't mention God, despite several member countries' efforts for the contrary. Valery Giscard d'Estaing, president of the convention on the future of Europe, unveiled...
Rediscover the Prophets
How long has it been since you read the prophets? In the Old Testament, the prophets are considered the covenant spokespeople of God. Often, the prophets are misunderstood to be "foretellers" who predict what will...
“Confessions of a Dangerous Mind”
Perhaps the greatest lesson of the film is to set higher standards for oneself in the beginning; then the dreams that are realized will truly be worthwhile. As one looks upon the older face of the former host of "The...
UK Baptists to Join Saturday’s Anti-War Demonstration
Baptists will participate in what is expected to be a massive peace demonstration in London on Saturday, opposing war with Iraq. Officials expect roughly half a million people to participate in the march, organized by...
Bush Is Out of Step With Religious Leaders in Rush to War
President Bush is out of step with the leadership of the American religious community in his rush to war with Iraq. Despite having made faith-based initiatives a key component to his domestic policy and being the most...
Courageous Church Leaders Walk a Tightrope
For congregational leaders, courage is lived out on a rope held taut by the priestly function of the clergy on one end and the prophetic function of the clergy on the other. Rudolph Giuliani's popularity suddenly...
“The Recruit”
Movies like "The Recruit" follow a simple formula. There is always a hero, played by some hot new star, who may have talent, or at least the good looks. There is always a mentor figure, played by some seasoned veteran...
What Does 2003 Hold for Rural America?
Those short-sighted people prospering from the abuse of our rural places and peoples are not listening. And they have the ears of our governments. Young men and women from the rural South, Baptist young folk, will be...
“Shanghai Knights”
Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson team up again—and follow the same formula—for "Shanghai Knights." Jackie Chan moved to the U.S. market in the late '90s. In his early career, he made some of the greatest action pictures in...
Kaiser Report on TV Sex: More Abstinence, Relationship, Protection
Few people would disagree that there is more sex on television. But according to new research by the Kaiser Family Foundation, sex on television today is safer, with more mentions of abstinence, and more relationship...