Baptist News Global

The time a young PTSD-wracked veteran walked into her backyard

I was sitting on my back porch, watching some early Fourth of July fireworks but not feeling at all patriotic as I pondered the current ICE raids. Almost everyone I know is impacted, asking about their loved one and wondering what can we do if they…

How a teacher’s kindness can change a student’s life

I was a fifth-year senior, which was one of the most embarrassing times of my life. It meant I hadn’t finished high school in the usual four years, and I would be required to go back to the same high…

Baptist Joint Committee trains 10th BJC Fellows class

The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty marked the 10th anniversary of its BJC Fellows program by training a 14-member 2025 class, bringing the total number of Fellows to 100. Each summer, the BJC trains a new class of emerging…

The Scopes ‘Monkey’ Trial isn’t done shaping America

If the Scopes “Monkey” Trial is discussed nowadays, the tone usually is pejorative. The events of July 1925 — in which a small-town substitute teacher was charged with a misdemeanor for teaching evolution in a public high school — are…

Israel, a secular state, cannot be covered in the ancient garb of ‘chosen’

I am grateful to two people I have never met. The first is Ali Khan, a physician in Little Rock, Ark. I became acquainted with his advocacy for Palestinians, which has helped draw attention to their genocide at the hands…

‘Wide open spaces’: Reflections from a summer camp chaperone

Earlier this summer, I was holed up in my temporary dorm room at Converse University, groaning at my laptop while my students and our other church chaperones were outside practicing their performances for the annual camp variety show. I heard…

Lawsuits stack up, but Trump administration stonewalls challenges to Anti-Christian Bias Task Force

A constitutional watchdog group has filed a second lawsuit against the Trump administration’s Anti-Christian Bias Task Force. The president created the commission in a Feb. 6 executive order directing U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to launch investigations into “anti-Christian conduct”…

Federal judge stops Arkansas from posting Ten Commandments in public schools

A federal judge has blocked Arkansas from implementing a new law requiring Ten Commandments displays in public-school classrooms. In issuing the Aug. 4 preliminary injunction, U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Brooks described Arkansas Act 573 as “plainly unconstitutional” under the…

Man-made catastrophes devour possibility of ending hunger

A perfect storm of war, pestilence and budget cuts has dashed any hope of ending national and global hunger by 2030, anti-poverty advocates say. The United Nations set a goal in 2015 of eradicating global food insecurity by the end…

‘Pro-family’ policies may worsen American women’s maternal health

Christian groups that identify as “pro-family” say America’s declining birth rates are an urgent crisis, and they support President Trump’s efforts to spawn a “baby boom.” But policies promoted by these groups may actually make becoming mothers more difficult —…

American politics: Where courage goes to die

Since Donald Trump returned to power Jan. 20, I have watched people and institutions cave to demands of the president. Are we witnessing a growing tribe of neo-cowards? Has cowardice become a political necessity? As the Master of Wakefield asked,…

In conversation with Zach Lambert

Zach Lambert is a writer, public theologian and the founding pastor of Restore Austin. His new book, Better Ways to Read the Bible: Transforming a Weapon of Harm into a Tool of Healing, catalogs the ways the Bible has been…

The wicked are punished — or not

What Ryan Burge sees in America’s megachurches

We are a nation of immigrants

As worldwide deaths mount, Musk insists DOGE cuts didn’t kill anyone