Baptist News Global

When it comes to child care costs, Dave Ramsey is the one who’s ‘dumber than crap’

“Come on dude. That’s just dumber than crap. Seriously. Good God,” the conservative evangelical financial celebrity and New York Times bestselling author Dave Ramsey ranted at a parent who called into his radio program asking for advice. Ramsey’s co-host Jade Warshaw piled…

Anti-immigrant frenzy creates dangerous situation at U.S. border, advocates warn

Anti-immigrant bigotry is reaching a frenzied pitch as Texas continues to defy a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that grants U.S. border agents permission to remove razor wire Gov. Greg Abbott has erected along portions of the Rio Grande. Abbott has…

About that SBC sexual abuse hotline; it just gets worse

The more time goes by, the more concerned I get about the Southern Baptist Convention’s sexual abuse hotline. For anyone who may be trying to make some kind of risk-benefit analysis in deciding whether to call the hotline, the balance…

Josh Hawley seeks revival of ‘Our Christian Nation,’ condemns ‘atheist left’

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley’s recent First Things essay, “Our Christian Nation,” may warm the hearts of Christian nationalists and confound historians and theologians who worry about continuing threats to the separation of church and state. Every nation needs a common…

From 1925 to 2024: Why the SBC’s funding formula is being questioned a century later

To understand the behind-the-scenes conflict happening between the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee and some of the SBC’s agencies and institutions, understand first that the devil is in the details. Or in the dollars. Or in lack of trust, once…

Three responses to the volunteer shortage

Maybe it’s only me, but I don’t often encounter bombshell statistics, providing some radically helpful new insight. Not often, but not never. When they align with lived experience or shine the light on an insight we need, then statistics become…

Fundamentalism is not the only religious voice unless we give up

The Psalmist writes: “Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there, living things both small and great. There go the ships, and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.” Using the tools of biblical criticism, we…

The six most important words for healthy relationships

“What are the three most important words in a relationship?” In premarital counseling sessions, it’s usually the bride who answers — grinning coyly and speaking demurely as she answers. Sometimes both the bride and groom answer simultaneously. I once posed…

Transitions for the week of 2-9-24

Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated bi-weekly. STAFF CHANGES Jacob Boyd, concluding his tenure as associate pastor of students and discipleship at First Baptist Church, Springfield, Va.,…

Hope for divided churches glimmers at the Grammys

I cried Sunday night watching two seemingly different individuals perform one of my favorite songs together. I love music and look forward to the Grammy Awards every year. While I love celebrating my favorite artists and watching about half the…

Politics, faith and mission: A conversation with Ty Seidule

The Lost Cause myth is the original Big Lie, building on cultural, historical and religious elements of culture to try to create (or recreate) a world where white men reign supreme and some version of America is Great Again. One…

Yes, technology has become more critical for U.S. churches since pandemic

The outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 prompted lasting changes in the ways U.S. religious groups use technology in congregational life, according to a new study by Hartford Institute for Religion Research. “The pandemic necessitated innovation in how congregations connect with…

Supreme Court slides into partisanship

Before the fireworks, be careful what you drink

The contemptible case of Clarence Thomas

The permanent paradoxes of Christian thinking about war