In any other year, the following fact would have been a minor footnote in a story about United Methodists electing a gay male pastor as bishop in defiance of the denomination’s official ban on gay ministers: Cedrick Bridgeforth is a…
Puerto Rican pastor Laura Ayala to lead CBF Global Missions
A Puerto Rican pastor has been named coordinator of Global Missions for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, signaling a series of firsts. Laura Ayala is the first person of color and the first person from outside the continental United States to…
Tom Ascol endorses Ron DeSantis and Christian nationalism in weekend campaign rally invocation
The same weekend Ron DeSantis released a campaign video saying he had been sent to Florida directly by God on the eighth day of creation, a prominent Southern Baptist pastor offered an invocation at a DeSantis campaign rally and then…
Former RNC head calls new DeSantis ad ‘ass-backwards blasphemy’
A new video ad released by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is “some of the most ass-backwards blasphemy I’ve ever heard in my life, and one of the dumbest political ads you could ever make,” a seminary educated former head of…
Despite faculty vote of ‘no confidence’ in president, Hardin-Simmons trustees express ‘great confidence’
In response to a 76% faculty vote of no confidence — the second of its kind — in President Eric Bruntmyer, the trustee chairman of Hardin-Simmons University has assured students all is well. In an email addressed to “dear students”…
‘Let the messengers decide,’ two SBC leaders say of debate about expelling churches with female pastors
Determining whether to exclude churches with women serving in any way as pastors should be determined by messengers to next summer’s Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, according to the two men with the most influence over that process. SBC President…
Faith Commons becomes first organization and first interfaith work to receive T.B. Maston Ethics Award
Successful interfaith work is not seeking the lowest common denominator and watering down differences in beliefs, George Mason told supporters of the T.B. Maston Foundation Oct. 27 as he and colleague Nancy Kasten received the Maston Christian Ethics Award. The…
Recent SBC leader mocks Pelosi attack via Twitter, while celebrating Elon Musk’s lack of content moderation
A former officer of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee who was among the most outspoken critics of the investigation into sexual abuse in SBC churches has used Twitter to mock the hammer attack on Paul Pelosi. Pelosi, husband of…
‘We’re so blessed!’
This is the first in a November series produced by BNG on what it means to be “blessed,” a word so flippantly used that it often loses meaning. Before I tell you this story, I need to explain about the…