Baptist News Global

Letter to the Editor: Let’s retire this inaccurate term

Dear Editor: Let’s retire the term “Christian nationalism.” No, not a respectful, good-memory-laden retirement event. Make it a forceful dismissal with suitable ceremonies of utter disgust and disgrace. I will henceforth use the terms “religious nationalism” and “religious nationalists.” Of course, it…

What’s keeping this minister awake at night

I have many reasons for not getting what a somnologist or sleep doctor would describe as a full night’s rest. For one, I have children. This means my ears are attuned to any sound slightly resembling a croup-like cough. In…

That time Freddie Haynes preached like Jeremiah Wright

Sometimes writing a news story is not sufficient to convey the importance of an event. This is one of those times. The emotion of what I witnessed in Little Rock, Ark., today cannot be conveyed in a cut-and-dried news story….

Simmer down? Hell, I’m just getting warmed up

Recently someone suggested I should “lighten up” on my criticism of Donald Trump and his regime. That’s not going to happen. To be silent is to be complicit. Throughout my career I’ve been threatened, trolled, falsely accused, defamed, shamed and…

Trump executive order on IVF reopens debate among ‘pro-life’ viewpoints

President Donald Trump issued an executive order Feb. 18 seeking to expand access to in vitro fertilization, opening a potentially controversial debate among his core constituency of evangelical Christians. The “pro-life” movement is divided on IVF, with some seeing it…

Louisiana set to gas 81-year-old man in wheelchair

Update: Christopher Sepulvado died in prison Feb. 21 before the state could execute him. On Feb. 17, an interfaith group of religious leaders gathered at Touro Synagogue in New Orleans for a prayer vigil in protest of Louisiana’s plan…

Evangelical supporters silent — again — as Trump rewrites Ukrainian history

Evangelical leaders did not jump to President Donald Trump’s defense when he declared Feb. 19 Ukraine provoked Russia’s invasion and ought to accede to Vladimir Putin. His most ardent evangelical supporters were mysteriously silent, and evangelical leaders who have called…

Roe v. Wade revisited

“At least six Texas children under 12 got abortions out of state in 2023,” according to an article by Taylor Goldenstein of the Houston Chronicle. “The number, possibly an undercount, underscores the effect of blocking the procedures for one of…

Matt Queen’s attorney asks judge for leniency in sentencing

The former Southern Baptist seminary professor who has admitted to lying to the FBI about documentation of alleged sexual abuse by a student should not be imprisoned for his crime, his attorney wrote in a letter to the judge Feb….

In times of fear, this is what artists do

In an article about the recently completed St. John’s Bible — the first handwritten and illuminated Bible produced by the Benedictine Order in more than 500 years — Duke University professor Ellen F. Davis asks, “When is beauty a moral…

The return of public racism

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., for no discernible reason has claimed the maternal death rate in Louisiana isn’t as bad if you don’t count Black women. According to Cassidy, a medical doctor, the state’s high maternal death rates are more standard…

SBC Executive Committee can’t cover expenses, seeks extra $3 million

This story was updated Feb. 19 to include a clarification on staff compensation at the SBC Executive Committee. The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee cannot meet its financial obligations this year and needs $3 million in “priority funding” from…

What Disclosure Day reveals about evangelicals’ fears

Insufficient

6 ways the Reflecting Pool boondoggle mirrors Trump and MAGA

Pilate asked Jesus, ‘What is truth?’