By Carra Hughes Greer I was 13. While my friends were ecstatic about all the new clothes and other stuff they would be getting for Christmas, I was facing the very real fact that we would not be exchanging any…
Sharia and the Constitution
By Jim Denison In last month’s midterm elections, voters in Oklahoma overwhelmingly passed an amendment to their state constitution prohibiting state courts from considering Sharia law when deciding cases. U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange then issued a temporary restraining order,…
Introducing the Christian year
By R. Kevin Johnson Late November is time to make a figurative turn to the beginning of the Christian storybook and another year in God’s service. The calendar I follow all year begins four Sundays before Christmas and sets me…
No winners
By Bill Wilson One of the most painful parts of our political process is the heated rhetoric of the campaign season. Most of us are so disgusted by the vitriol of political ads that, by election day, we are willing…
Becoming thankful for Thanksgiving
By Sarah Holik I think about what I’m thankful for, I enjoy spending time with my family and I love having a few days off, but beyond that I really don’t like Thanksgiving. I would be happy without the foods…
Surprising debate on torture
By David Gushee It was an odd reunion last Wednesday at the Evangelical Theological Society meeting in Atlanta. I had reluctantly agreed to engage Dan Heimbach of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and Keith Pavlischek of the Ethics and Public Policy…
Bankrupt Crystal Cathedral a family fluke or sign of times?
(Editor’s note: ABP is pleased to announce the addition of prominent Baptist historian and author Bill Leonard to our team of regular contributors. He will write a bi-weekly column offering his perspective on developments in American Christianity. Leonard retired this…
Journeying from despair
By Amy Butler Desolation. Dry, unyielding, lifeless, dark. Wind whistles through what was abandoned, echoes of emptiness filling the silence. No water runs here, no urgent life pushing up through cracks in the pavement. Just dry, empty, dead landscape, scorched…
Pass the DREAM Act
By Christopher Robertson Immigration reform has been mainly an abstract concern for many Americans for years. But now, the country has a chance to enact real reform for real people — the children of illegal immigrants. For nearly a decade…