By Andrew Gardner I am finishing up a student internship with the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. This year the BJC celebrates its 75th anniversary as a religious organization devoted solely to the protection of our first freedom. With…
News from Washington you may have missed
By Robert Shippey Tumultuous debate over the debt ceiling largely overshadowed something of extraordinary importance that happened last week in Washington. Participants from more 300 colleges gathered at the White House to participate in the President’s Interfaith and Community Service…
The church’s response to families with autism
By Theresa Christian I have been asked to leave church more than once because my son is autistic and can be disruptive. It is painful for our family to miss church, but we have spent more years outside of the…
Responding to ‘The Response’
By Bill Leonard On Aug. 6, thousands of Christians will join in a day of prayer and fasting at “The Response,” a “solemn assembly” at Reliant Stadium in Houston. Its purpose, leaders say, is “to pray for a historic breakthrough…
Debt-ceiling compromise doesn’t fix economic injustice
By Zachary Bailes Well, the ceiling has been raised. While compromise has been reached in Washington D.C., the debate is not over. For months the debates will rage, and pundits will continue to put on their boxing gloves for the…
How Israel remembers the Holocaust
By David Gushee As a scholar, I have long recognized the Holocaust for the grotesque and epochal evil that it was. Before I went to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories this summer, however, I had little idea how much…
Is your church making you healthy or sick?
By Bill Wilson In talking with the doctors and nurses during his procedure, I learned that one dose of immunoglobulin is derived from the donated blood of more than 1,000 blood donors. This collection of antibodies from the donated blood…
Rural ministry, the land of the forgotten
By Dwight Duhon Next Sunday morning the sun will rise; the smell of coffee, toast and bacon will fill the kitchens of many. And some 56 million Americans will get ready to attend one of 300,000 churches dotting the landscape…
Harry Potter holds lesson on facing fear
By Amy Butler I finally went to see a Harry Potter movie. I liked the books, just like everyone else, but may be a function of my age that I just can’t keep the story straight. Or maybe it’s the…