The Southern Baptist Convention has been at war with itself for more than 40 years, with each new battle promising uniformity that never materializes for long. This year’s SBC annual meeting, happening next week in Indianapolis, represents another major front…
The Strict Father model is killing us
George Lakoff has given the world one of the most helpful and depressing models of understanding the differences between liberals and conservatives and how we think — what he calls the moral mind. His book Moral Politics: How Liberals and…
LA firefighter claims religious discrimination because of Pride flags
Now joining the ranks of cake bakers, wedding photographers, website designers and other evangelical Christians suing to avoid the appearance of supporting homosexuality is a fire fighter in Southern California. Jeffrey Little is a captain with the Los Angeles County…
For fastest-growing churches in America, it’s location, location, location
If you want to have a fast-growing church, there are 47 counties in America that fit the ideal criteria for success, according to an empirical analysis by Ryan Burge. Successful church plants today most often meet these four criteria, Burge…
First we had election deniers; now we have justice deniers
This time, the problem is not with America’s justice system; the problem is with conservative evangelicals’ warped view of what justice means. The folks always screaming about “law and order” don’t really care about law and order when it works…
Motion will ask SBC to add Nicene Creed to Baptist Faith and Message
Four Southern Baptist theologians and pastors intend to ask messengers to this year’s Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting to adopt the Nicene Creed as part of the denomination’s official faith statement. In the sweep of Baptist history, this is an…
Gov. Abbott claims victory on school vouchers but chief critic says he’s counting his chickens before they hatch
The Texas Legislature now stands on the cusp of passing school voucher legislation, thanks to the results of primary runoffs held statewide May 28. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a staunch supporter of private school vouchers funded with taxpayer money, declared…
Dockery comments on indictment, names two other employees involved
The president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has weighed in with a public statement identifying the two other employees mentioned but not named in a federal indictment. In a May 29 release, President David Dockery identified Terri Stovall, longtime-serving dean…
Why a Calvinist pastor may be coming to your church
Recently, I heard yet another story of a “centrist” Southern Baptist church calling a pastor who is inevitably going to steer the church sharply to the right. It doesn’t take a Ph.D. in theology to understand this. It only takes…