As the Southern Baptist Convention in its recent annual meeting has proved itself unreliably Baptist, it gives me pause to think about how quickly the transmogrification of this Baptist denomination into its ecclesiastical opposite has happened. Baptist folk often have...
As Kentucky’s last abortion clinic is at risk of being shut down, some religious leaders step up against Gov. Matt Bevin’s anti-abortion policies.
Americans may disagree on politics and religion, but many of them are in step when it comes to booze. As in, they like it. And that embrace of alcohol is on obvious display leading in to the New Year.
We seem to wake up every day to new proofs that Twain was righter than rain.
In the world birthed in that stable so long ago, the kings joyfully leave their gifts with the poor and go away empty-handed. No strings attached. No more quid pro quo. No more debts of gratitude, only gifts freely given and shared.
It’s notable that when St. Thomas makes his request to Jesus, he’s not condemned. Rather, Jesus gives Thomas what he needed — in his case, proof — and in doing so makes it clear that Jesus is willing to meet us where we are. Some need proof, at least as a start; for others, faith alone is enough.
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If you’re reading this story on the new laptop or tablet or phone you just got for Christmas, be thankful. But don’t forget also to be grateful, which, many spiritual leaders say, is not necessarily the same thing.
To parody low income, impoverished people politically, ecclesiastically, theologically or pragmatically is to undermine or downright ignore the almost relentless concern offered them by the purported Good News of Christ’s gospel, especially at the season of Advent.
The Christmas season seems to bring out the worst (or most effective) in manipulative advertisements. These are seductive ways of viewing the world, of thinking of life, and of focusing on me.
Congregational and worship consultants are practically guaranteed job security in the coming decades thanks to the coming of Generation Z, aka Gen Z. Experts anticipate that churches which have long used coaches, books and seminars just to tread water with Millennials will be even more challenged by that up-and-coming group whose older members are just reaching college age.
A theology that that comforts the child trafficker but not the child, the exploiter but not the exploited, the sexual predator but not the victim, the rapist but not the raped, the con artist but not the conned is harmful to a world full of trafficked children, exploited people, and victims of assault and abuse.
Many factors have shaped white American Christianity into what it is today. But keeps us away from the core truths of our faith, I suspect, is this: Christians today seem governed by fear.
