Younger generations in our church don’t seem to connect with stories of Baptist heroes who dealt with the moral crises of their day. So, how can we communicate the values upon which our forebears stood? My education, training and experience…
FAITH DIGEST
Lutherans ask Anabaptists’ forgiveness. Lutheran World Federation leaders plan to apologize for their ancestors’ 16th-century persecution of Anabaptists, religious reformers whose direct successors include Mennonites and the Amish and who influenced Baptists. The apology unanimously adopted by the federation council…
Iranians celebrate Holy Spirit movement
PLANO—Persian praise songs resonated through the meeting hall at First Baptist Church in Plano as about 150 worshippers raised their hands and opened their hearts. They rejoiced in the way God’s Spirit is moving among Iranians, and they fervently prayed,…
Physicians give chaplains a clean bill of health
WASHINGTON (RNS)—Science and faith often may clash, but a new survey suggests most American doctors believe religion and spirituality can help patients. Published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, the survey found 90 percent of physicians are satisfied with spiritual…
Russian Baptists alarmed by proposed changes to religion law
MOSCOW (ABP) — Russian Baptist leaders have raised concerns about proposed revisions to the nation's religion law — changes they contend would greatly curtail religious freedom in Russia. Yuri Sipko, president of the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists wrote Russian…
BMS World Mission writes prime minister about global warming
DIDCOT, England (ABP) — The urgent need for action on global climate change is the subject on which a 217-year-old British Baptist missionary-sending organization has chosen to write what its leaders believe to be the group's first-ever open letter to…
State Department religious-freedom report cites concerns in familiar, new places
WASHINGTON (ABP) — An independent government panel that monitors global religious-freedom conditions thanked the State Department for its latest comprehensive report on the subject Oct. 26, but said the administration could move more boldly to protect freedom of conscience in…
Urgency, creation care and theological advance
By David Gushee Under the impact of a globally recognized ecological crisis, Christianity finds itself today in the midst of a major theological transition. Globally, it is moving from a religion generally uninterested in ecological concerns to one whose major…
American sexual ethics today, Part 2
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second of two columns contrasting prevailing cultural attitudes on sexuality with classic Christian ethics and calling for Christians to reclaim their own heritage in a countercultural practice of Christian community. The first was published Oct….