Baptist News Global

Transitions for the week of 12.09.16

Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated weekly. STAFF CHANGES Vince Blackerby, now serving as director of operations at Mountain Brook Baptist Church, Birmingham, Ala. Bill Booth, to…

Christianity in Britain: neither here nor there

The nervousness over Christmas, or even over expressing religious belief, is an absurd expression of a real void at the heart of soulless technocracy.

Seminaries start Black Lives Matter courses

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.

Am I not radical enough to be on the Professor Watchlist?

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…

The ‘Water of Life’ in an age of water scarcity

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…

To help someone grieving at the holidays, avoid platitudes, experts say

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…

American Baptist leaders recall ‘other side’ of Pearl Harbor

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…

Opposition to assisted suicide dies out

Most Americans, including 4 in 10 evangelicals, want doctors to help terminally ill patients end their lives.

Jury picked, opening statements set in church slayings trial

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.

I’ll be somewhere else for Christmas

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…

Less fake, more real

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…

Trump election may signal death — and rebirth — of American Christianity

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…

Theologizing with Larkin Poe, 10 years after Reskinned

Ministry leader with tall tales wins GOP bid for Colorado governor

What Willy Rice once knew

What I learned July 5 at church