The losses we’ve experienced due to coronavirus are both horribly easy to count — 465,000 dead in the United States alone — and yet invisibly painful. Especially for communities of faith, the relational losses often go unreported. Yet in conversation…
Supreme Court again overturns COVID restrictions on houses of worship
In a sign of how long the coronavirus pandemic has gone on, the United States Supreme Court has been dealt enough cases on church closures during the pandemic now to have reversed itself and splintered further in its own opinions….
White Christian nationalists and Black Americans find common ground in vaccine wariness while some pastors try to set a positive example
Two communities seemingly at odds with each other are among the groups of Americans most likely to be skeptical of the new COVID-19 vaccines: Christian nationalists and Black Americans. The reasons why each group is skeptical are different, but the…
What’s old is new again: Conservatives threaten funding over SBC’s ethics agency
From the Department of What’s Old is New Again: The Southern Baptist Convention’s ethics agency is being accused of liberalism and creating a distraction from the work of evangelism and missions. During the fundamentalist takeover of the SBC that began…
Methodist seminary dean tapped to lead Belmont University
Gregory Jones, a Methodist minister and dean of Duke Divinity School, has been named president of Belmont University, effective June 1. He will succeed long-time president Bob Fisher, who will retire in May. Under Fisher’s leadership, Belmont experienced rapid growth…
Refugee resettlement expected to rebound, but the pipeline is broken
Repairing the global damage done by the Trump administration to refugee resettlement work will take time but will happen, according a panel of evangelical Christians deeply involved in such work. The Jan. 27 press briefing was convened by the National…
CBF Governing Board focuses on partner relationships, marks anniversary of COVID pandemic
The next phase of implementing its Toward Bold Faithfulness initiative will lead the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship to reimagine its relationships with partner organizations, members of the CBF Governing Board were told Jan. 29. Meeting via Zoom due to the ongoing…
Neither democracy nor religious freedom are biblical concepts, John MacArthur declares
The Bible favors neither democracy nor religious freedom, John MacArthur said in a pair of January sermons where he lamented the perceived persecution of his church by government. The highly influential pastor — who has been at war with Los…
A second SBC pastor in Texas called Vice President Kamala Harris ‘Jezebel’
It turns out that East Texas pastor Tom Buck wasn’t the first Southern Baptist pastor in Texas to call Vice President Kamala Harris a “Jezebel.” Steve Swofford, pastor of First Baptist Church of Rockwall, Texas, located in the eastern suburbs…
Anti-transgender bills introduced in more than a dozen state legislatures
While transgender rights are being expanded by the Biden administration in Washington, D.C., bills have been introduced in more than a dozen state legislatures that would narrow rights for transgender persons, especially minors, and for their parents and caregivers. This…
Amid the hypocrisy of critiquing ‘unity,’ maybe we need a different goal: Cooperation
We need to debunk the argument that achieving “unity” means everyone will get their way. That’s not logically possible. This fallacious thinking is emerging as a primary conservative critique of the new administration in Washington, D.C. And once again, it…
America needs a ‘third Reconstruction,’ Barber tells new administration
America needs a “third Reconstruction,” William Barber II said in a homily at the virtual inaugural prayer service for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris hosted by Washington National Cathedral on Thursday, Jan. 21. “Reconstruction” refers first to…