Though it has been two weeks since that awful morning in Blacksburg, I am not ready, completely, to turn my thoughts away. I still see anguished young faces revealing in their eyes and from their lips their deep sense of…
GOP presidential race again features faith, but new dynamics
WASHINGTON (ABP)—With Democratic front-runners talking openly about evangelical-style conversion experiences and Republicans lamenting that none of their top-tier candidates are bona fide social conservatives, experts say the 2008 presidential campaign may rewrite political playbooks on the role of faith. “Of…
OTHER OPINION: Reflections from Blacksburg
Words. How can I put into words what we have experienced at Virginia Tech? How can I communicate the depth of the hurt and the beauty of the first steps of God's healing? It seems impossible to even begin. Yet…
Democratic presidential race features more faith than usual
WASHINGTON (ABP)—With many Republicans concerned their party's leading presidential candidates are not sufficiently conservative on social issues, Democrats have what may be their most faith-friendly crop of candidates in recent years. According to experts in politics and religion, faith-savvy Democrats…
Dates of Infamy
They are dates that “will live in infamy.” September 11, 2001. April 16, 2007. December 7, 1941. President Roosevelt summarized that last date: “America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by the naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan….
Giuliani leads among evangelicals, Clinton leads among Catholics
WASHINGTON (RNS)—Presidential hopefuls Rudolph Giuliani and Sen. Hillary Clinton hold early leads among key religious voting blocs in the race to win their party nominations, a national survey revealed. The survey by the Pew Research Center shows religious voters leaning…
Out Loud
“We are particularly pained, as Koreans ourselves, to learn that this incomprehensible, dreadful act of violence was committed by a Korean student. But we sincerely hope also that this tragedy does not generate new prejudice or violence among people, but…
News about Virginia Baptists and their ministries for May 3, 2007
STAFF CHANGES • J. Lytle Buckingham, to Sharon Church, King William, as pastor. • Bill and Mary Dell Sigler, resigning as co-pastors of Kilmarnock Church, Kilmarnock, effective June 15. She will become a bereavement and spiritual care coordinator for Hospice…
Opinion: Communities don’t prevent violence, but they help us cope
“We are all Hokies now.” So reads a banner that appeared at a Baptist church near our home. It tries to express the empathy that most Virginians feel in the wake of the terrible murders at Virginia Tech. The school…
Immigration ethics: The system impacts whom churches can hire
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (ABP) — Claudia Munoz wants to work on a church staff and has done everything she can to prepare herself, including traveling from her home country of Chile to enroll at Baptist University of the Americas. Munoz…
Immigration ethics: Any reform better than nothing, some say
WASHINGTON (ABP) — As Congress debates immigration-reform proposals, some Christian immigration activists say there is no perfect legislation in the pipeline, but time is of the essence in getting something — anything — passed. A reform bill with broad bipartisan…
Panel debates ‘tongues’ in Baptist life; Burleson sees McKissic as SBC prez
ARLINGTON, Texas (ABP) — Wade Burleson thinks Dwight McKissic, the Texas pastor who caused a stir in the Southern Baptist Convention by acknowledging he speaks in “tongues” in private, will eventually be president of that 16-million-member group. If Burleson is…