James Talarico isn’t the only Democratic candidate making faith a calling card of his campaign this year. In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed will face Haley Stevens in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Aug. 4. In a fundraising letter this week,...
Many of you will recall that I served for eight years as president of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Foundation in Atlanta from 2002 to 2010. Some smaller number of you will know that I left that perfectly well-paid position to…
Charleston. Donald Trump. HB2. Target. Hillary Clinton. Brock Turner. NRA. ISIS. Orlando. Are you still reading? I wouldn’t blame you if you’re not. Every time I see one of these words pop up on my Facebook feed, one of two…
When we think of Jesus, images of a peace-loving, gentle pacifist comes to mind, at least it did to the mind of Howard Yoder. We read our particular ideology into the biblical text when we claim Jesus was a pacifist….
It’s a sociological axiom of congregational life that what we see indicated in North American megachurches functions as a “canary in the coal mine,” signaling what’s coming for the rest of U.S. congregations. With that in mind, here’s some of…
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…
