Note: This article discusses suicide, child sexual abuse and domestic violence. It may be distressing for some readers. On June 30, child liberation theologian and abuse survivor advocate Ryan Stollar died by suicide, following a lengthy struggle with his...
In a message to a world conference against the death penalty, Pope Francis says capital punishment “contradicts God’s plan for individuals and society, and his merciful justice.”
At 25, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship recalls its birth in a passionate commitment to freedom. All stories must start somewhere. Baptist stories are no different — from the self-baptism of John Smyth in 1609 to Roger Williams planting the first…
Human rights activist Elijah Brown has been elected general secretary of the North American Baptist Fellowship, succeeding congregational leadership coach and author George Bullard, the organization has announced. Brown is the executive vice president of the Falls Church, Va.-based 21st Century…
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Governing Board adopted a process June 21 to guide the 1,800-church Fellowship through controversy amid renewed attention to the organization’s 16-year-old policy against hiring LGBTQ people since the June 15 mass shooting at a gay nightclub in…
American parents are less happy than their childless counterparts. And the parenthood “happiness gap” is greater in the United States than in 21 other countries studied.
Our church’s recent quarterly business meeting seemed routine enough (if there is such a thing as a routine business meeting). But very quietly, something historic occurred that evening. In our congregational vote to grant membership letters to those who had…
Work has begun to save one of the holiest shrine in Christendom. It won’t be a simple patch-and-paint job. They are going to repair Jesus’ tomb — with titanium bolts.
A Southern Baptist newspaper editor said an editorial June 21 that he takes offense when he hears people describe boxing legend Muhammad Ali as an American hero. “Ali, who died recently, did some good things during his lifetime and he…
When Daniel Aleshire, whose organization accredits most U.S. seminaries, retires next year, he’ll have witnessed a quarter century of what may have been the most dramatic changes in clergy education in the country’s history. Informed ministry is superior to ignorant…
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Governing Board approved a task force on clergy sexual misconduct June 21 in a final meeting prior to this week’s CBF General Assembly in Greensboro, N.C. The CBF will collaborate with Baptist Women in Ministry in…
The Donald Trump campaign tapped two former Southern Baptist Convention presidents, a former agency head and a Dallas pastor who has prayed at several of his campaign events for a new executive board to advise the presumptive Republican nominee on…
It could be the beginning of the end for one of the most oft-used expressions of humanity in American politics — the moment of silence for those who have died.
