My 70th birthday arrived recently, and my wife, Sharon, kept telling me it’s a big deal. I think she means a big deal this year; next year, when it’s her turn, we’ll see. It causes me to think about why…
How 300 children lost their fathers to lynching on a single day because of a conspiracy theory
At last count, 73,923,495 Americans have voted for Donald Trump. Trump eclipsed Barack Obama’s previous record by more than 4.5 million votes. Trump topped his own 2016 performance by 11 million votes. That’s huge. Trump lost the election; but he…
From life experience, some thoughts on the need for legal abortion rights
So much comes into my mind and heart when I talk or write about abortion. I have to revisit the time I miscarried at 3-plus months in 1979. After a week of hemorrhaging blood clots the size of liver slices,…
Simple, creative holiday activities you can do at home this year
Phawnda Moore is one of the four panelists for BNG’s free webinar on surviving pandemic holidays offered tonight at 7 p.m. Central time. Register here. Being home for the holidays can be a refuge from the ongoing, dramatic events of…
Advent reflection: The advent of liberation
BNG is pleased to partner with Baker Publishing Group and Perkins School of Theology at SMU to present a twice-weekly Advent reflection series written by Jack Levison. The reflections will be published every Tuesday and Thursday throughout the season. In…
Understanding Black theology, white fragility
Back in 2011, Raphael Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta (and currently in a runoff for one of Georgia’s two U.S. Senate seats), preached a sermon drawn from the Gospel of Matthew about whether a person could serve…
If your heart is grieving this season
If your heart is sitting in a place of deep lament and grief this holiday season, you are not alone. No human on the planet has been a stranger to grief or hardship this year. How it has affected each…
Bonhoeffer Moment No. 5: Finding a ‘will for the future’
Reflecting on the long-term impact of the Bubonic Plague (1346-1353) sweeping across Europe and ravaging his native Florence, the poet Petrarch wrote: “O happy posterity, who will not experience such abysmal woe and will look upon our testimony as a…
How transactional faith led evangelicals to embrace transactional politics
In an excellent Nov. 13 Washington Post column about how white evangelicals have whored themselves to support the most immoral president of our lifetime, Michael Gerson hit upon a word that jumped off the screen at me: “transactional.” He wrote:…
I saw two Americas this Thanksgiving
On this Thanksgiving weekend just past, I was aware of two Americas. Interspersed among the segments of Macy’s parade and the Disney Holiday celebration was a reminder that in our country not all the pleasures of life are simple or…
Advent reflection: An infinity of grace
BNG is pleased to partner with Baker Publishing Group and Perkins School of Theology at SMU to present a twice-weekly Advent reflection series written by Jack Levison. The reflections will be published every Tuesday and Thursday throughout the season. The…
Truth Decay: Truth as an issue in Christian ethics
“Let your yes be yes and your no be no. Anything more than comes from the evil one.” — Matthew 5:37 Six years ago, I took to the pages of Associated Baptist Press (now Baptist News Global), to puzzle over…