Since becoming king of the Benin kingdom in southern Nigeria, Eheneden Erediauwa has embarked on a vigorous campaign to retrieve many of the kingdom’s artworks, lost or looted from the royal palace over the past century and a half, and…
America will be better as gumbo than a melting pot, scholar says
Americans can undermine white supremacy and Christian nationalism by emulating the values and actions of the Good Samaritan, Jonathan C. “Jay” Augustine said March 29 to open the Walter B. and Kay W. Shurden Lectures on Religious Liberty and Separation…
In water-scarce Zimbabwe, free Muslim water wells are the ‘kiss of life’
Decades of water corruption, mismanagement and climate change mean Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, is one of Africa’s thirstiest cities. In some neighborhoods, Muslim families, building on the altruism of their faith, are erecting free, clean public water wells on…
When a child comes out, every family’s journey is different, professor says
Healthy parental responses to a child coming out as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender cannot be reduced to a one-size-fits-all formula, said one of the nation’s leading Christian counselors and scholars focused on sexual identity. “There is no one family…
New Texas seminary renamed to honor Jesse Fletcher
The seminary that was to be birthed as a named successor to Logsdon Seminary now will be called Jesse C. Fletcher Seminary. The San Antonio, Texas-based school plans to open this fall with three classes offered, according to Jonathan Davis, vice president…
Predominantly Black churches still have a future, Tisby asserts
While research shows that many Black Christians prefer to attend racially diverse congregations, predominantly Black churches will continue to hold strong as racism surges across the nation, according to historian and author Jemar Tisby. “More than half of people in…
COVID relief dollars provide a ‘saving grace’ to Baptist-related HBCU
Students at Simmons College of Kentucky are breathing healthier air and bearing an easier financial burden thanks to federal funding provided through coronavirus relief legislation. This historically Black college in Louisville, Ky., has received about $9 million in federal COVID-19…
The return to church has hit a plateau
The post-COVID return to church has plateaued, according to new nationwide data from Pew Research. After most houses of worship closed to in-person gatherings in mid-March 2020 due to the initial threat of coronavirus, there has been a slow return…
Lindsey Graham says he goes to church about three times a year but wants Supreme Court nominee to rate her faithfulness on a scale of 1 to 10
Once again, a United States senator asked a nominee for public office a question about personal religious practice, despite the clear prohibition of Article VI of the U.S. Constitution. This time the questioner was Sen. Lindsey Graham, R.-S.C., and the…
In Ukraine, a 40-member church helps 7,000 people flee war
The European Baptist Federation reports that churches across Ukraine continue to provide spiritual and material support to war victims even in areas under heavy attack or already overrun by Russian forces. “Churches continue to be active in the Kherson region,…
Threats to religious freedom and to women go hand in hand
Whenever and wherever religious freedom is threatened, so too are the fundamental rights of women and girls, a panel of experts said during a recent virtual hearing before the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. “Gender-based and religiously based discrimination…
Pastor’s wife felt the prompt of the Spirit, now she’s the First Lady’s prayer partner
In 2020, Robin Jackson took a leap of faith that has changed her schedule every Wednesday since. During the presidential campaign, then-candidate Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, attended Brookland Baptist Church of West Columbia, S.C., where Jackson’s husband, Charles,…