It’s not just church that young adults in America are staying away from. New data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control indicate adults ages 18 to 29 are the least likely to be vaccinated against coronavirus. On a national…
Southern Baptists are still obsessed with Critical Race Theory
The specter of Critical Race Theory loomed large over the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting June 15-16, yet no concrete actions to address it by name were taken. That delighted Southern Baptist pastors and leaders who believe months of debate…
In narrow ruling, unanimous Supreme Court supports Catholic Social Services in Philadelphia foster care case
The United States Supreme Court unanimously sided with Catholic Social Services in its claim against the City of Philadelphia, saying the city cannot exclude the faith-based agency from a foster care contract merely because it does not serve LGBTQ clients….
SBC calls for ‘immediate abolition of abortion without exception or compromise’
One resolution against abortion wasn’t enough for this year’s Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting. After messengers (voting members) to the SBC gathering in Nashville on June 15 adopted a strongly worded resolution opposing abortion and calling for continuation of the…
SBC messengers rebuke Executive Committee’s attempt to control investigation of its response to sexual abuse crisis
In a rare and sharp rebuke of its top staff leader, the Southern Baptist Convention on Wednesday, June 16, said the SBC Executive Committee cannot investigate itself as its president, Ronnie Floyd, had attempted to do. Floyd, who has been…
SBC steers a decidedly conservative course but rejects the most far-right agenda while putting Executive Committee and Ronnie Floyd on notice
While affirming bread-and-butter conservative issues on the first day of its annual meeting June 15, the Southern Baptist Convention turned back attempts at harder-line positions desired by the most conservative bloc of the body. That included a narrow rejection of…
SBC Executive Committee declines to entertain the idea of broadening the scope of its investigation of itself
As an anticipated 17,000 messengers descended on Nashville for the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting June 14, the SBC Executive Committee defended its decision to pre-emptively investigate itself and refused to broaden the scope of that investigation. Meanwhile, a North…
Editing our narratives has the power to heal future generations
There’s a common thread to much of the social conflict we’re seeing in church and society these days, and it has to do with our willingness to edit our own stories. Let’s call it a hardening of the narratives. One…
SBC Executive Committee hires a firm to investigate itself and report findings to itself
In what appears to be a preemptive move four days before the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, the president of the SBC Executive Committee announced he has hired an outside firm to investigate his own agency and, purportedly, report the…