Baptist News Global

Southern Baptists debate resolution supporting Israel

The Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution June 14 criticizing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement to put economic and political pressure on Israel to end the occupation of Palestinian lands despite objections by an Arabic pastor. Pastor Jamal Bishara…

The Pope needs to do more than kiss the disabled

There’s a long history of disability serving only as an opportunity for non-disabled people to demonstrate their piety through service, a “charity model” that ultimately still promotes otherness and exclusion.

Did Richard Dawkins hand creationists their next school strategy?

The idea that Darwinism leads one to atheism informs much of the so-called “conflict” of science and religion. The facts are simply not on its side. Nonetheless it serves as a point of consensus to attack a range of interpretations.

A time for prayer, but what kind?

Sunday night several hundred people gathered in my city to pray. We went to our prayer vigil place — the steps of the governmental plaza in Greensboro, N.C., where we’d gathered before. Some of the candles still held the wax…

Louisville and Orlando, 2016

On Nov. 17, 1999, I met Muhammad Ali. It was at the Cathedral of the Assumption on 5th Street in Louisville, Ky., in a Cathedral Heritage Series of ecumenical gatherings. I was the preacher for an interfaith Thanksgiving service, and…

Belgium-based minister helping Syrian families to safety

Four years into a multi-faceted and sustained response to “the biggest humanitarian emergency of our era,” the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is continuing its efforts to serve Syrian refugees through field personnel and ministry partners in five countries. Belgium-based field personnel…

Transitions for the week of 06.17.16

Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated weekly. STAFF CHANGES Robert H. Carpenter, to Courtland (Va.) Baptist Church, as interim pastor. Caleb Foust, to Emerywood Baptist Church, High…

American Muslims send a powerful message of solidarity to Orlando victims

The American Muslim community reacted with an outpouring of love and support. The violence also sparked a debate within the community about whether Muslim leaders need to speak out more forcefully against homophobic ideologies.

Memphis pastor wins tight race for SBC president

Tennessee megachurch pastor Steve Gaines was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention June 15 when another candidate conceded in a runoff election that was too close to call. Gaines, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tenn., came three…

Baptist editor calls for open meetings

In a motion at the Southern Baptists Convention June 14, a Baptist state newspaper editor asked trustees of all Southern Baptist Convention entities to open their meetings to the press. Lonnie Wilkey, editor of the Baptist and Reflector newspaper in…

Southern Baptists renounce Confederate flag

One hundred seventy one years after its founding over a dispute about whether slaveholders could be appointed as missionaries, the Southern Baptist Convention passed a strongly worded resolution June 14 against public display of the Confederate flag. The resolution, as…

What cannot be killed or swept aside — love

I don’t know what disturbs me more: the reality that our nation and world are gripped in a fist of violence, hatred, blame and rage — or the reality that when I heard about yet another massacre on Sunday, this…

Rubio says US shouldn’t be held accountable by international court

Demands mount as Trump’s ICE agents kill two more people

The real American religion: A July 4 postmortem

9 months later, schools are paying for firing teachers over Kirk posts