By Bob Allen Interfaith Alliance head Welton Gaddy called on authorities to quickly investigate a Thanksgiving week arson that destroyed the Ferguson, Mo., church where the family of slain teenager Michael Brown has attended since July. Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms…
For SBC, 1984 was the year of the pivot
By Bob Allen In 1949 George Orwell published Nineteen Eighty-Four, a dystopian novel imagining a future totalitarian state where people are constantly reminded of mass surveillance by the slogan “Big Brother is watching you.” Thirty years ago, Russell Dilday, then…
Officials get mixed messages about right of conscience in marriage laws
By Bob Allen Government clerks have no legal right to refuse to issue a marriage license to same-sex couples in a state where gay marriage is legal, Americans United for Separation of Church and State said in a legal memorandum…
Kentucky human-rights head commends Crescent Hill
By Bob Allen In a Nov. 29 letter to the editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal, the chairman of the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights commended a church recently kicked out of the Kentucky Baptist Convention over homosexuality. George Stinson, chairman of the…
Americans with fewest resources giving greater percentage to charity, study finds
By BNG staff America’s poor and middle class are giving more to charity even though they’re earning less, while the country’s rich are earning more but giving a smaller portion of their income to charity. That’s the conclusion of a…
5 communication mistakes your church is probably making
After a combined 15 years as an administrative assistant, communication manager, educator, communication specialist or communication consultant (or any other title sent my way), I’ve had time to reflect on what we’re doing wrong when it comes to effective communication….
Engaging ‘nones’ is challenging but possible, say church leaders
By Jeff Brumley American “nones”— people who claim no religious affiliation — come with a variety of stories. Some were raised without any religious education at all. Most of them have few opinions on faith and wouldn’t know the Bible…
Black pastor says racial profiling exists in the SBC
By Bob Allen A black Southern Baptist pastor says he believes the kind of racial profiling which some believe played a role in the shooting of Ferguson, Mo., teenager Michael Brown is alive and well in the Southern Baptist Convention….
FBC Decatur, Ga., elects openly gay deacon
By Bob Allen A flagship Cooperative Baptist Fellowship congregation in Atlanta voted Nov. 23 to approve a slate of deacons including an openly gay man in a committed, same-sex relationship. The vote followed a three-week sermon series on the Bible…
Baptists’ mission work order changes from carpentry to caring
If you’ve ever heard of the Roma, it’s likely the romanticized version of brightly clad gypsies drifting carefree in caravans across Europe, setting up camp, stealing the local chickens and dancing until sunrise. In reality present-day Roma — also known…
CBF pastor hopes Darren Wilson decision will prompt dialogue
By Bob Allen A Cooperative Baptist Fellowship pastor in St. Louis said any hope for improving race relations lies not in agreement about a non-indictment in the Michael Brown shooting death but in relationships that will grow between people with…
Thabiti Anyabwile says Ferguson grand jury gives marching orders for change
By Bob Allen An African-American leader in the “young, restless and reformed” Calvinist movement in the Southern Baptist Convention called on President Obama to exercise strong leadership in light of a Nov. 24 grand jury decision in Ferguson, Mo., to…