Baptist News Global

Letting go of our ‘wish dream’ for the church

From the very beginning, Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s writings centered around the life of the church. The church, its calling and welfare, was his passion. As a young doctoral student, he wrote two dissertations. One was titled, “Christ Existing as Community.” As…

What’s the status of ICE and ‘sensitive locations’? Confusing

A federal judge refused to block immigration actions near Minnesota schools while other courts consider Trump administration appeals to rulings in other lawsuits against raids at or near sensitive locations. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship alerted partner congregations this week that…

A life-giving alternative to Religious Right religion

A reader recently emailed me, “If I had to choose between religious-right Christianity or atheism, I would have to choose atheism.” This reader hasn’t lost faith in Jesus. But he’s deeply troubled that American religion (at least a large segment of…

Proof that I was worth the trouble: A story of my mother

Sitting in the car with my mother, I kept quiet. I’d already said enough. It was Thursday. My project on the state of North Carolina was due Monday. My fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Ballard, had made that clear months ago….

When the shepherd grows weary

Pastoral ministry rarely pauses long enough for leaders to notice the weight they carry. The work does not begin on Sunday morning or end when the sanctuary grows quiet. In our counseling practice, we sit with pastors who describe a…

End-times prophets say we’re about to find out aliens are demons

“The rumors are real,” pastor Mike Signorelli wrote on X. “I was brought into a private briefing with other pastors. No phones, no cameras, no recordings. We were told plainly: Disclosure is coming, and what follows will shake the faith…

Something awful is happening in Sudan, and you don’t know it

The largest humanitarian crisis in the world isn’t happening in Ukraine, or in Gaza, but in Sudan. There, 33.7 million people (out of a total population of 55 million) are in dire need of aid, and the world has forgotten…

A constitutional republic, if you can keep it

Too often, when I hear or read political pundits, both conservative and liberal, refer to the United States as a “democracy,” I want to scream, “We are a constitutional republic, not a democracy!” and a few choice other words directed…

Voting rights and the ancestral voices of the African diaspora

Let me tell you what just happened: The U.S. Supreme Court effectively dismantled the Voting Rights Act. The very legislation for which John Lewis bled on that bridge, for which Fannie Lou Hamer was beaten in a Mississippi jail, for…

Ted Turner: The maverick who changed the world

There are few Americans in modern history who can say they fundamentally changed how the world watches television, experiences sports, consumes news and thinks about philanthropy. Ted Turner is one of those rare figures. Whether people agreed with his politics,…

Louisiana bill would criminalize homelessness

Legislation moving through the Louisiana Senate would punish unhoused people with fines, incarceration, forced labor and compulsory treatment they would have to pay for themselves. House Bill 211 would “create the crime of unauthorized camping on public property” punishable with…

Death penalty abolitionists at work in Ohio and Tennessee

Death penalty abolitionists in Ohio and Tennessee are hard at work trying to prevent the executions of Death Row inmates in those states. More than 500 faith leaders signed a May 4 letter to the Ohio General Assembly pleading with…

Islamophobia is the next bogeyman

The Black Church cannot remain America’s emergency moral infrastructure

We are manna

Webinar explores religious context of America’s Founders