Four dozen Southern Baptist leaders voiced support for President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency, under scrutiny for his views on climate change, in an open letter Dec. 16. The current and 12 past Southern Baptist Convention presidents,…
Interfaith events expand in wake of 2016 election
It’s getting real in a whole new way for Americans involved in local, regional and national interfaith movements. Donald Trump’s election is seeing to that. Religious folk who thought they had an uphill battle against sporadic prejudice, here and there,…
On fourth anniversary of massacre, the slaughter at Newtown remains constant memory
At memorial services for the victims of Sandy Hook Elementary School, it is common for a bell to toll 26 times — once for each of the 20 children and six teachers who died beneath Adam Lanza’s withering onslaught four…
Religious Right criticizes Trump’s secretary of state
Conservative white evangelicals credited with helping to elect Donald Trump as president oppose his pick for secretary of state not because of his cozy ties with Russia but for his role in leading the Boy Scouts of America to drop…
Flood waters deepen minister’s calling into homeless ministry
Merianna Harrelson was cruising along as pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Lexington, S.C., when Mother Nature stepped in with historic flooding in the fall of 2015. The high waters, and the suffering they inspired, drew Harrelson and her husband,…
Former SBC agency head says Calvinism debate goes deeper than a failure to communicate
A former Southern Baptist Convention agency head disputed the argument that tensions over Calvinism in the denomination are the result of traditionalists who criticize what they don’t understand. Richard Land, former president of the SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission,…
Southern Baptist leaders, others, oppose laws battling LGBT discrimination
More than 75 religious conservatives, including several leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention, have signed a public document opposing policies that ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Charter signers of the “Preserve Freedom, Reject Coercion” proclamation coordinated…
Transitions for the week of 12.16.16
Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated weekly. STAFF CHANGES Jill Buckley, concluding her tenure as associate pastor for community ministry at Northminster Baptist Church, Jackson, Miss. She…
Faith, religious commitment may inspire workplace success
Catholics are more emotionally committed to their workplaces than are evangelicals, and people with strong attachments to God, regardless of their faith group, are more committed to their jobs when they work for smaller companies. Those and other findings about…
Pre-Christmas burglaries target Louisiana churches
Authorities in Louisiana are looking for a real-life Grinch following a recent string of church burglaries. The Baptist Message, news journal of the Louisiana Baptist Convention, said four Baptist congregations were among nine churches of various denominations hit by burglars…
Southern Seminary president affirms fidelity to Abstract of Principles
A Calvinist-influenced doctrinal statement written by slaveholders before the Civil War still serves Southern Baptists well in the 21st century, a seminary president said recently promoting a new book affirming his institution’s commitment to “confessional” faith. Albert Mohler, president of…
Blue Christmas service seeks to comfort the grieving
Christmas can be anything but the most wonderful time of the year for those suffering from grief and loss, and a number of churches seek to comfort the afflicted with a Blue Christmas service providing a safe place during the…