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 more African-Americans are killed at the hands of police, seminaries have begun to engage with the movement and investigate how their theology can be enlisted to improve race relations.
An open letter to the folks at Professor Watchlist: I am deeply angry, upset, frustrated and irritated with the aggregated list you all compiled of “dangerous professors” with “radical agendas.” Specifically, what deeply disturbs me about your list is that…
It’s only a matter of time when two nations go to war not over access to oil, but to water. Bypass the debate about whether climate change is causing this — the reality, according to the United Nations, is that…
The holidays are especially hard on those mourning the loss of loved ones and friends. And that suffering is often made worse by well-meaning-but-nervous friends who don’t know what to say — or not say — to those who are grieving. “A…
As citizens across the nation mark the 75th anniversary of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, American Baptist leaders renewed attention to a lesser-known part of the story they believe offers lessons on racial prejudice still relevant for today. Two months…
Most Americans, including 4 in 10 evangelicals, want doctors to help terminally ill patients end their lives.
Twelve jurors were chosen Wednesday to decide the death penalty trial of a white man who authorities say wanted to start a race war by killing nine black people in a South Carolina church.
In December of 1998 my father made an unusual holiday journey. Less than a year earlier he’d been diagnosed with melanoma which eventually laid siege to his brain. After fruitless rounds of chemotherapy and gamma knife treatments, Dad had a…
In 1787, so the story goes, a Russian named Grigory Potemkin erected a portable, fake village in order to impress the visiting Empress Catherine II. Thus the phrase “Potemkin village” has come into our lexicon to describe anything literal or…
John Jay Alvaro is one of those thoughtful ministers. He frequently pauses when asked tough questions — especially when it’s about matters of faith and culture. And he chooses his words carefully. That’s precisely what he did Tuesday morning when asked…
A group of ministers and scholars issued a statement Dec. 5 asking Baptist churches in the United Kingdom to find “the courage to be Baptist” in continuing to associate with fellow Baptists despite differing views on the thorny issue of…
Baptist churches around the world will focus worship services this weekend on the biblical demand to stand up for human rights. The Baptist World Alliance, an organization of 235 member bodies representing 45 million Baptists around the globe, sponsors Human…
