Baptist News Global

Christianity Today hires a Black woman and the white right goes nuts

Within hours of Christianity Today announcing that longtime pastor and scholar Nicole Massie Martin had been elected its next president and CEO, a familiar chorus of online racist and patriarchal critics declared the flagship evangelical magazine is no longer really…

Religious groups seek to prevent holiday immigration raids

A coalition of religious groups has asked a federal court to prevent federal immigration agents from raiding houses of worship during the holiday season. The plaintiffs in New England Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, et al., v. Department of…

Now a Jewish public charter school is proposed in Oklahoma

Fresh on the heels of debating a proposed Catholic charter school with state funding, the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board has received a request for a proposed Jewish public charter school. That is cause for concern at Americans United for…

Six free online Advent resources for individuals and families

Not only is this week Thanksgiving in America, it’s also the beginning of the Advent season for most Christians in the United States. That means a variety of online devotional resources are popping up for the season ahead. “Advent” is…

BJC agrees with demand to retain Johnson Amendment

Thirteen U.S. senators and representatives have written to the acting director of the Internal Revenue Service urging him to continue enforcement of the Johnson Amendment that prevents churches and other charities from endorsing political candidates. The IRS announced July 7…

Not classifying nurses as ‘professional’ will hurt faith-based schools

The Trump administration’s ruling that nurses no longer will be considered “professionals” by the U.S. Department of Education has a direct effect on the nation’s faith-based schools. Health care in general and nursing in particular have a long and interconnected…

Liberalism is not liberation

One of my predecessors as pastor at Myers Park Baptist Church was the great Carlyle Marney, who confessed, “The real crisis for me was in Charlotte” where he was caught in a web of socio-economic forces that included “money, banking,…

Dad of trans daughter writes about how to slay dragons

Parents must lean into communities of affirmation to endure the religious, cultural and political backlash that comes with parenting gender nonconforming children, author Sim Butler said. Butler said his new book, The Dragons Do Come: Raising a Transgender Kid in…

Former Texas youth pastor facing reindictment, new charges

A former youth pastor at four Texas churches is facing a slew of new criminal charges as his long-delayed trial is now set to begin Dec. 1. The new indictment returned by a grand jury three months ago charges Luke…

A committee of one

On Thanksgiving Day, when my sons and I sit down for dinner, we will be joined by a gentleman who spent the past 12 years living the harrowing life of an unhoused person. While living on the streets, he suffered…

‘Progressive imagination often is wider than progressive practice’

Not long ago, a search committee called to share their final discernment after months of conversations, sermons, prayers and emails. Their words were familiar, almost rehearsed by the collective memory of Black clergy everywhere. They told me it had become…

With gratitude for the women who lead us

Julie Pennington Russell called me last month. I had just finished a centering prayer group, a practice Pastor Julie helped nurture in me, and I began to weep when I saw her name on my phone. I was so grateful…

Trump’s war on ‘woke’ targets federal grants and foreign relations

Reflections on In the Twilight of the Christian West

Why rural families need support now

Why do we keep sounding the alarm?