Now is the time for the Biden administration and Congress to provide citizenship for immigrants who previously entered the U.S. illegally, new survey data suggests. A February poll by NewsNation/Decision Desk HQ found that a significant majority of registered voters…
Nowhere near the war zone, Africans feel the heat of the Russia-Ukraine war in their pocketbooks
As the war in Ukraine continues to rage on — leading to loss of lives and a refugee crisis in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Moldova and other countries — even the African continent, thousands of kilometers away, is feeling the…
Randall Lolley, key figure in resisting SBC’s conservative shift, dies at 90
Editor’s note: This story will be updated as new information becomes available. Randall Lolley, one of the pivotal figures in the late-20th-century schism in the Southern Baptist Convention and an early leader in the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, died March 21…
Two key developments in voting rights rulings in Arkansas
Arkansas now finds itself at the center of the nation’s debate over what’s “election integrity” and what’s “voter suppression.” And a Baptist judge is one of the key players. Arkansas Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen (who also is a BNG columnist)…
Latest PRRI data show growing gap between white evangelicals and other Americans over same-sex marriage and legal protections for LGBTQ people
While the same-sex marriage now is the law of the land in the United States, white evangelical Christians remain distinct outliers among all Americans in accepting that reality. This finding from Public Religion Research Institute comes amid a backdrop in…
Leland Center names Pruitt president
The John Leland Center for Theological Studies has named Kenneth R. Pruitt as president. Pruitt comes to the role from the pastorate of King’s Grant Baptist Church in Virginia Beach, Va. He has been an officer on the school’s board…
Another dispute over SBC’s mishandling of sexual abuse claims breaks out on Twitter, including release of another recorded conversation
The Southern Baptist Convention’s reckoning with abuse continued unfolding in the public eye this week with multiple fiery Twitter exchanges and leaked audio of a confrontation between two male pastors and a female abuse survivor. The kerfuffle began the night…
A new scholarship for students who advocate care and justice for LGBTQ persons garnered the most support on Baylor Giving Day
While Baylor University regents and administrators continue to walk a tightrope over LGBTQ inclusion, rank-and-file donors made their voices heard on the university’s annual Baylor Giving Day March 16. The event’s leaderboard shows the new Paul Eddie Dwyer Endowed Scholarship…
‘The city is wiped off the face of the earth’
“The city is simply wiped off the face of the earth. It is completely destroyed. There is no electricity, all the wires are on the ground. There is no gas, as the gas pipeline is blown up. We have a…
As a pastor serves bread to the elderly in Ukraine, he prays to retain his humanity
As Ukrainian theologian and pastor Fyodor Raychynets serves bread to the elderly imprisoned in bomb shelters, his prayer is to retain his humanity. “I have to remind myself on a daily basis that we are humans and we are —…
Half of U.S. congregations led by solo pastor but that’s not what most churchgoers experience
The iconic Americana image of a solo pastor faithfully tending the flock of a local congregation remains a reality for more than half of U.S. congregations, but that is not the reality most American churchgoers experience. Combined with the report…
Another major study confirms: Most American congregations are small, but most churchgoers attend large congregations
One of the largest ongoing studies of communities of faith in the United States has confirmed a key finding reported by other researchers: The vast majority of American congregations are small, but the vast majority of American worshipers attend larger…