Baptist News Global

Soulforce asks Facebook to divest from National Religious Broadcasters

A Christian advocacy group for LGBT inclusion is trying to organize a Twitter storm to force a face-to-face meeting with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg calling on the company to divest from right-wing Christian media. Soulforce Executive Director Haven Herrin hopes…

New pastor of Mother Emanuel seeks healing amid the clamor

With the shooting’s anniversary this summer, visitors to the church will swell. The Rev. Dr. Betty Deas Clark knows this. She must prepare a hurting people, and herself, to relive a nightmare.

Why Orthodox Judaism is appealing to so many Millennials

Young Americans might be leaving religion in large numbers, but for some, rules, ritual, and tradition are attractive ways to find meaning in daily life.

And the women were there

In her memoir Mighty Be Our Powers, the Liberian grassroots activist and 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Leymah Gbowee said: Modern war stories often resemble each other, male commanders are quoted offering predictions of swift victory, male diplomats make serious…

In North Carolina and Syria, the politics of ‘home’ is real

I haven’t lived in the place where I was born and raised in a long time. But sometimes a quality of “home” embedded in my consciousness is suddenly awakened — a visceral sense of rootedness in a place, among a…

It’s Opening Day — for baseball and maybe for life

The sun rises to meet the blue sky above, casting its light upon a diamond of reddish dirt and fresh cut grass. A white ball pops against the worn, brown leather of the catcher’s mitt. The crack of the bat…

Bodybuilding Baylor prof lifts baby into national spotlight

Darryn Willoughby is a world-class, professional bodybuilder who benches 500 pounds. So why did media outlets and social media make such a big deal that he recently lifted a 15-pound baby? It’s because he held the adorable and squirming infant…

Transitions for this week

Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated weekly. STAFF CHANGES T. C. Baack, to First Baptist Church, Comanche, Texas, as minister of youth and missions. Dana Brawley, concluding…

Bill termed anti-gay authored by Baptist lawmaker

The Mississippi Senate has passed what critics call the most sweeping anti-LGBT legislation in the United States, sponsored by a Baptist layman who is a trustee at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, a member and former…

Abuse survivors want conference speaker removed

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is asking organizers of an upcoming religious conference to revoke a speaking invitation to a pastor accused of concealing multiple sex crimes. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said March…

C.S. Lewis predicted Donald Trump

In “The Four Loves,” Lewis talked at length about the horrible damage that can be done by patriotism or love of country. And it sounds like he had Trump down pat.

SEC says ExxonMobil must allow proxy vote on climate change

The Securities and Exchange Commission ruled March 22 that ExxonMobil must allow shareholders to vote on a climate change resolution, pleasing groups that advocate socially responsible investing. The SEC said the company must allow stockholders to vote on a series…

How much is enough?

Robert Sloan, Baptist educator, dies at 77

What patriotism is not

Amid flurry of rulings, habeas corpus spells trouble for Trump immigration policies