Baptist News Global

Baptist ethicist says values voters should care about torture

A Baptist ethicist urged “values voters” who care about morality and believe in the sanctity of human life to hold lawmakers accountable for mistreatment of war on terror detainees during a hearing looking into one state’s role in a controversial CIA torture program used after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Ready to ‘welcome the stranger,’ Baptist church invites Muslim spiritual leader to preach Advent service

Some folks may be stunned to learn that a Baptist church in Charlotte, N.C., has invited a Muslim to preach from its pulpit on the first Sunday in Advent. But the idea seemed a natural one for the congregation, given its 2017 preaching and formational theme titled “Awakening to Immigration.”

Letters to the Editor

The latest from our readers: • American churches seem to have a flag fetish | Gary Dalton, Keswick, Va. • Evangelicals and the death of Christianity in the U.S. | Gavril Andreicut, Elmhurst, Ill.

It’s the holiday season. How do you sift through all the appeals for giving?

The conventional guidance, parroted as if it were gospel, goes something like: Be generous, follow your passions and do enough research to verify that a chosen charity won’t squander your money. It’s not that simple.

Bill that would allow churches to receive FEMA aid advances in Congress

Some object that using taxpayer funds to rebuild houses of worship would violate separation of church and state, but proponents argue that religious groups, which are often at the forefront of disaster relief efforts, are being unfairly disadvantaged.

Responses to sexual abuse of late theologian continue

The reactions to revelations of sexual abuse by the late theologian John Howard Yoder, and especially to a recent published response to Yoder’s actions by theologian Stanley Hauerwas, continue to prompt wide-ranging conversations. Here are two of the latest.

State Baptist group says Nashville Statement is ‘without error’

Southern Baptists in Arkansas recently endorsed a controversial statement released by a coalition of evangelical leaders in August that says the Bible does not leave room for people to identify as both Christian and gay.

Moving forward with #wetoo until some are ready for #metoo

In response to growing revelations of sexual abuse, many women have written #metoo on social media. But there is a perplexing silence among Latinas. There is too much evidence to suggest that this lack of voices means that sexual abuse is absent in the Hispanic community. Perhaps in a communal culture such as the Hispanic one, it makes sense that we move forward right now with a #wetoo, until we are ready to say individually #metoo.

#nosotras también (#wetoo)

Si bien aplaudo el valor de las muchas mujeres que han escrito #metoo en las redes sociales, me he quedado perpleja por el silencio casi absoluto de parte de las latinas. He vivido lo suficiente como para afirmar que esta falta de voces o reconocimientos no significa que el abuso sexual esté ausente en la comunidad latina.

Transitions for the week of 12.01.17

Staff changes, congregational news and more from across the nation.

Church makes scripture-centered fight against neighborhood displacement the core of its mission

Besides growing a church with new converts to Christianity, New City Church’s central mission is to slow, stop, and even turn back the negative effects of gentrification in urban Minneapolis communities.

Molly Marshall announces 2027 retirement

She preached anyway

It’s time to listen to the prophets

‘Alligator Alcatraz’ is no more