In the past week, I’ve been asked two questions related to the back-to-back meetings of the Southern Baptist Convention and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship: Will churches leaving the SBC because they support women in ministry join CBF? What is the…
One week later, CBF meeting is the antithesis of the SBC meeting
One week after the Southern Baptist Convention made national headlines for a variety of its actions, a smaller Baptist group will meet for its annual General Assembly that’s not likely to make headlines anywhere but here at BNG. And that’s…
Paxton is attacking religious freedom, Catholic attorney warns
Attorney General Ken Paxton is attacking religious freedom in the entire state of Texas, according to an attorney for Annunciation House in El Paso. Paxton, a prominent member of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, has been after the Catholic…
Focus on the Family says SBC didn’t vote to ban IVF
The Southern Baptist Convention didn’t actually vote to ban IVF, Focus on the Family says in a June 13 article posted to its Daily Citizens newsletter site. The comment comes in response to a resolution adopted by messengers to the…
Reading the Bible without a leaf of hierarchy
Sunday before last in worship, we read from Genesis 3:8, a passage that says in the NRSV English translation: “They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and…
Breaking news: Paul Pressler died and the SBC said nothing
Herman Paul Pressler III of Houston died June 7, four days before the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, where nothing was said about his passing. Pressler, who had just turned 94, was the co-architect of the so-called “conservative resurgence” in…
Here’s what you need to know to understand that SBC resolution opposing IVF
The Southern Baptist Convention has not always opposed abortion, and Southern Baptists have not always opposed in vitro fertilization. This week’s adoption of an anti-IVF resolution by messengers to the SBC annual meeting represents yet another rightward shift in the…
Don’t be lulled by the failure of the Law Amendment
The narrow failure of the Law Amendment to receive two-thirds affirmation at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting should not give anyone a sense that women in ministry are welcome in the SBC. Nor should this vote — or any…
Ben Mandrell should take humility lessons from Bart Barber
I thought I had seen arrogance in Southern Baptist Convention agency heads in my 62 years of living, but I had not heard from Ben Mandrell until today. His cold-hearted arrogance speaking before the SBC annual meeting today is in…
Chair of SBC abuse task force explains why it is hard to get anything done
Because of the massive size of the Southern Baptist Convention, it is nearly impossible to bring about internal change. Nowhere is that more evident than in the failure of two consecutive sexual abuse reform task forces to bring meaningful change….
Breaking news: SBC will vote on three explosive motions Wednesday morning
Three new and potentially explosive issues will come up for a vote by messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting Wednesday, June 12. That will happen before the convention considers another highly controversial matter carried over from last year…
Day before voting on Law Amendment, SBC removes church that is Mike Law’s neighbor
One day before the much-anticipated vote on a constitutional amendment that would clarify the Southern Baptist Convention’s rejection of women in ministry, messengers to the SBC annual meeting overwhelmingly kicked out another church for its “egalitarian” views. First Baptist Church…