Baptist News Global

Religious attacks on science

The current MAGA evangelical attacks on science threaten to make America less safe, less healthy and much dumber. This anti-science compulsion is no surprise. Evangelical Christianity in the United States has rejected science at least since Charles Darwin. There is…

7 organizational pitfalls that keep churches stuck

A veteran airline pilot once told me, “Even the most advanced aircraft won’t go anywhere without regular course corrections.” The same is true of churches. While rooted in timeless truth, churches must constantly assess whether they’re still aligned with their…

Trump administration ordered to admit pre-screened refugees

The Trump administration has been ordered by a federal judge to admit about 12,000 refugees whose arrival plans were canceled when the president took office in January. U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead in Seattle said his order includes refugees from…

The theology of a predator

“I ain’t gonna take the blame for no bastard child! It would ruin me, man. You can understand that, can’t you? Listen to me, boy. She was … delusional. She was crazy.” So goes the frantic defense of Rev. Preston…

‘Protecting the right to vote is protecting every other right we have as citizens’

Standing up for voting rights is essential in pushing back against the social and political chaos consuming the nation, activist Moya Harris said during a July 15 organizing webinar. “Protecting the right to vote is protecting every other right we…

Getting over fundamentalism

Forty years after that long hot summer of 1925 in Dayton, Tenn., where the Scopes “Monkey Trial” was held, Southern Baptist preacher Carlyle Marney vividly recounted his memories. His parents were daily readers of the Knoxville News Sentinel, which claimed…

In conversation with Christopher B. Hays

Christopher B. Hays is the D. Wilson Moore Professor of Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at Fuller Seminary, where his teaching focuses on biblical languages and the Hebrew Bible. In 1996, his father, Richard, a leading figure in…

Trump 2.0: Hymn sings, prayer meetings and ‘biblical’ deportations

Pentecostal pastors laying hands on the president in the Oval Office. Prayers to open cabinet meetings. Hymn sings in the Roosevelt Room. Cross necklaces as faith-forward fashion statements. A prayer meeting at the Pentagon. Such public expressions of faith are…

An invitation to speak prophetically but not endorse candidates

On July 7, the IRS announced it no longer will enforce restrictions on places of worship endorsing political candidates provided those endorsements occur in the regular communication of the congregation to its members. This is a suspension of enforcement of…

How a group of Presbyterians is trying to reshape the SBC

Imagine, if you will, an enormous wooden horse encamped outside the Southern Baptist Convention headquarters. Downtown Nashville’s bachelorettes, bar hoppers and backup singers stop and stare at the giant horse with “Center for Baptist Leadership” emblazoned on its barrel. William…

Kendi’s latest project is to teach kids about Malcolm X

In his latest project, Ibram X. Kendi is on a mission to help the next generation know and understand the work of Malcolm X. Kendi already is known as a modern-day interpreter of the present moment through a historical lens,…

Intellectual virtue as the antidote for this moment

Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the…

‘Be careful of Scripture heavy in law but light on grace,’ Wesley warns

‘Show up and do something,’ ACLU leader urges

From the South Side to the South Lawn and back again

Democracy as a moral practice, not just a system