Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Anti-Semites, Dualists: A Look at Christians through the Eyes of Others
One of the gifts of interfaith dialogue is perspective. Through another's eyes we may deepen our understanding of ourselves and our faith. We may decide that the perspective of the other is flawed or incomplete, but we...
Wanted: Students Willing to Serve
Over the next few weeks, nearly 3 million Americans will receive a high school diploma. If recent trends continue, record numbers of them will enter programs preparing for praiseworthy careers in law, health care and...
Most Americans Oppose Using Embryos for Cloning
As the debate over cloning continues in Congress, Americans have cast their votes and most oppose it. Cloning involves harvesting stem cells form human embryos or adults for the purpose of medical research or...
“Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones”
Films, from the classic masterpiece "The Godfather" to the exemplary contemporary film "A Simple Plan," have dealt with the breakdown of moral character. The lesson of all of those films is that the journey toward evil...
Precedents for Postmodernism
Postmodernism means different things to different people. Some are so fascinated with current changes in social, artistic and intellectual life that they believe a new age has already dawned. Others are so frustrated...
Ballpark Etiquette
It's baseball and softball season again, and the local fields in our community are full of energetic boys and girls who are eager to hit a homerun or make a double play. The excitement of the sport gets...
Inactivity, Obesity Cause Early Preventable Disease among Children
Children who are overweight and obese may soon have as much costly preventable disease and death as cigarette smokers, according to a 20-year Center for Disease Control study released this month. CDC researchers found...
Christians Celebrate Faith, Help Community on Jesus Day
Christians across the globe will celebrate Jesus Day on Saturday by serving their communities and proclaiming their faith. Jesus Day began as the "March for Jesus" in the United Kingdom when churches took to the...
Dying in America: “Everyday” Ethical Issues
Deaths of ancient humans were recorded with careful notation of each generation's decreasing lifespan. Psalm 23, perhaps the most widely recited psalm, is a reflection on dying. Scripture, philosophy, legal codes and...
Rural Churches Ritualize Homecomings
The season of rural church homecomings arrived across the South with the first Sunday in May. Cemeteries are spruced up, church houses and grounds are cleaned up. New carpets are installed, and steeples and church...
Stem Cell Research, Cloning: An Interview with Advocate, Former Congressman John Buchanan
The growing debate over stem cell research and reproductive cloning has drawn bioethicists and people of faith into an ongoing dialogue about medical ethics and morality. John Buchanan grew up in Birmingham, Ala.,...
Navy Chaplains Meet Sailors’ Spiritual Needs
Navy chaplains play a vital role in the lives of sailors. The chaplain on board a Navy ship functions much like a pastor in a church. Chaplains, however, counsel and comfort people of all faiths. The chaplain on board...
The Present and Future Kingdom
"Your kingdom come," we pray, as Jesus taught his disciples to do. "Teach me kingdom ways," we sing. But what do we mean? The concept of the "kingdom of God" of which Jesus spoke often, is a fertile one, rich with...
Nice Things Baptists Said about Hitler
I intended to write about Baptist response to Israel's May 1948 declaration of independence. But I found nothing in the Baptist news journals I perused. This put me to thinking about Baptists' seeming reluctance to...
New Study on Clergy Burnout
The time crunch is the greatest stressor for American clergy, according to a new study conducted by Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. "Seventy-four percent of pastors responding to our survey reported that the...
Mulkey, Mill Creek and Free-Town
Founded, divided and freed: three words to describe the history of those who first gathered around a fresh water spring flowing from the ground in the south central hills of Kentucky. John Mulkey brought them into this...
Is Vacation Worth It?
"We're going on vacation, we are going on vacation," Dinah, (name changed) used to say gritting her teeth as she drove to the beach. She was the single mother of two very active young boys. She and the boys made an...
Baptists in Israel Living with Unique Challenges
"The bridges of reconciliation have been knocked down," claims an Arab Baptist pastor. "Both sides have darkened this opportunity with their satanic ways. We condemn the suicide bombers and the Israeli military!" "We...
Judaism, Zionism: Not the Same Thing
Not all Jews are Zionists, and several Jewish groups are fighting to make this fact known. Neturei Karta International, or Jews United Against Zionism, says on its Web site, "One of the basics of Judaism is that we are...
Buddhism: A Profile
The Buddha wrote nothing, but taught that a person gains enlightenment by following the "Middle Path" between self-indulgence and self-mortification. Worldwide: 357,000,000 United States: 780,000 Founder Siddhartha...
Virginia Baptists Vote in Special-called Meeting for New Direction
CHARLOTTESVILLE—Virginia Baptists turned out in large numbers at a special called meeting May 10 to launch the next-to-last step in a "Kingdom Advance" vision for unity that would offer options to Baptists across the...