In his last address as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, J.D. Greear urged leaders and members of the denomination to support sexual abuse victims, stand with people of color in their struggle against racism and to stop equating politics…
Melissa Rogers: America’s faith traditions can unify and heal wounds
While religious ideologies are increasingly cited as toxic and divisive forces in American culture and politics, faith also can heal those wounds when Americans unite around common causes such as hunger, poverty and disaster relief, according to Melissa Rogers. The…
SBC fight symbolizes the mean-spirited religious impulses of the nation, BNG panelist suggests
The turmoil engulfing the Southern Baptist Convention over its handling of sexual abuse allegations, racial injustice and gender inequality are both a result and an expression of a mean-spirited religious impulse that also has divided the U.S. politically and culturally,…
Du Mez sees link between sexual abuse cover up and complementarian theology
The white evangelical inclination to cover up sexual abuse in churches and denominations derives in part from a complementarianism ideology, according to Kristin Kobes Du Mez, author of Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured…
Indiana church ordains transgender minister
Being the first known transgender person ordained by a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship-affiliated congregation, Laura Bethany Buchleiter said she now can live fully into her calling to share the gospel in genuine and counter-cultural ways. “Where I would start is authenticity,…
As VP Harris heads to Guatemala, evangelical leaders urge U.S. to address root causes of migration
As Vice President Kamala Harris headed to Guatemala this week as part of a campaign to address the root cause of the surge in migration to the United States, she was among recipients of a letter from a group of…
Report says Trump administration lied about immigrant parents wanting to leave children behind
Faith-based and secular immigrant rights groups are expressing outrage over revelations in a federal watchdog report that say the Trump administration intentionally prevented hundreds of deported migrants from leaving the U.S. with their children. The revelations surfaced in a May…
On climate change, the political divide has widened as more Americans overall express concern
In addition to the political and generational differences between Americans over climate change, there is a disproportionate impact of pollution, unsafe drinking water and other challenges occurring among people and communities of color. This is the finding a new national…
Immigration advocates applaud official end of ‘remain in Mexico’ policy
The Biden Administration has officially ended a 2019 immigration policy that forced tens of thousands of Central American refugees to remain in dangerous Mexican cities to await asylum hearings as they seek entry into the United States. President Joe Biden…
Police and clergy join forces in this Virginia city to train officers in community assets more than deficits
The Danville, Va., Police Department’s new community immersion program connects rookie officers with leaders, including pastors, and residents in the city’s most diverse and economically challenged neighborhoods. Baptist pastor Joshua Hearne helped design the course, and the experience was a…
Dreamers want White House and Congress to do more for their protection
The Biden Administration must do more to protect DACA than invite Dreamers to the White House and streamline the bureaucratic process that grants temporary residency to immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally as children, recipients of the program say. So…
Separation of church and state looks different through the eyes of minorities, BJC speaker says
The First Amendment and concepts such as separation of church and state and freedom of religion seem to signal that religious diversity is strong in the United States. “Well, that’s not really true,” Khyati Joshi, author of White Christian Privilege:…