The Southern Baptist Convention currently faces one of the greatest tests ever of its internal governance while also fending off serious accusations of mishandling sexual abuse claims. This dual problem consumed the Sept. 20-21 meeting of the SBC Executive Committee…
Longing for tradition: The example of Pope Francis and the Latin Mass and what it means for non-Catholics
About two months ago, Pope Francis issued a statement that many readers of Baptist News Global may not have noticed. In Traditionis Custodes, the pope limited the use of what is commonly called “the Latin Mass” or “traditional Latin Mass”…
Angels from Africa: Reckoning with the New Apostolic Reformation
There’s something happening here, what it is ain’t exactly clear. Two days after Joe Biden was declared winner of the 2020 presidential election, Paula White, the ex-president’s thrice-married spiritual advisor, launched into a stunning rant. “I hear victory in the…
Why all the fuss about the ‘Remain in Mexico’ immigration policy?
How would you feel if someone you trust harmed you as badly or worse than someone who beat you? On an international level, that’s what the U.S. immigration policy known as Migrant Protection Protocols — or MPP, or “Remain in…
It’s an easy dismissal of an idea you disagree with, but what does it actually mean for something to be ‘antithetical to the gospel’?
The phrase “antithetical to the gospel” has become a favorite way to shut down ideas with which Christians disagree. Don’t like someone else’s theology or politics or social views? Just declare those views “antithetical to the gospel,” and that’s that….
Here I am, Uncle Sam, send me: What Biden got wrong
Those (military members) who have served through the ages and have drawn inspiration from the Book of Isaiah, when the Lord says: “Whom shall I send? Who shall go for us?” The American military has been answering for a long…
The big news from the 2020 Census is multiculturalism, which threatens some people and still eludes most churches
Demographers have been predicting for three decades that the United States was headed toward a non-majority status for any single racial group in the population. Results of the 2020 Census released last week confirm that ongoing trend, but the real…
Coffee, conversation and Christianity go together like cups and saucers
Across the American South, it’s hard to sit in a coffee shop anywhere and not overhear a Bible study or a conversation about Christian faith. America’s obsession with coffee — whether from Starbucks or the hippest new local spot —…
Church ‘religious exemption’ letters against COVID vaccination mandates likely won’t work
Churches in California and North Carolina are among those now offering congregants documentation for “religious exemptions” to the COVID-19 vaccine, a practice that is legally dubious and likely ineffective, according to labor lawyers. The practice has arisen as more employers…
Afghanistan: A tragic example of an unjust war
I was born in the waning years of the Vietnam War. I don’t recall the war itself, but one of my earliest childhood memories dates to about 1970 and, for some reason, it is remarkably vivid. I had tagged along…
Is there a crisis at the Southern border? Follow the numbers
The official Twitter account of the Arizona Republican Party tweeted on Aug. 9, “The border is wide open, and our towns are being overrun by migrants.” U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn tweeted on Aug. 4, “The Democrats have abandoned our border…
What’s wrong with ‘Left Behind’?
One of the biggest lies perpetuated in modern American Christianity is about the end times. Just by paying attention to popular culture and conversation, you would assume that the “Left Behind” theology is the most accepted — and maybe the…