A few weeks ago, I sat with a Baptist leader who described himself as a “moderate Baptist.” He meant it as a compliment, and most people in our circles would receive it that way. After all, “moderate” is one of...
It’s difficult to imagine in today’s bitterly divided America the political, religious and civic alliance that helped pass the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 1993, said Amanda Tyler, executive director of Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. “This coalition was…
A 1638 treatise titled A Discourse about Civil Government in a new Plantation whose design is Religion, written in response to the founding of New Haven, Conn., contained this definition of a properly Christianized government: Theocracy, or to make the…
Family is so important to Mike Pence that his wife and daughter were by his side the entire day of January 6, as insurrectionists sought to take his life at the U.S. Capitol. “Not very many people know my wife,…
The histories we tell ourselves about our churches and denominations are important. They shape organizational identities and give greater meaning to the work churches and denominations conduct in the wider world. When those histories become deeply engrained, they can morph…
Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated bi-weekly. The next posting of Transitions will be 12-29-23. STAFF CHANGES Amantha L. Barbee, to PneuMatrix and the Center for…
Of the more than two dozen legal cases currently pending in courts against the Southern Baptist Convention or its entities, one takes particular aim at the work of Guidepost Solutions, the independent researcher that produced the scathing report of mishandled…
From the successful unionization of Starbucks baristas in Buffalo to striking actors and writers in Hollywood, support for labor unions is on the rise in a post-pandemic world. A Gallup poll from August reported 67% of Americans approve of unions…
The intense polarization around the Israel-Hamas war reminds me of a story from another polarizing Middle East war that occurred 20 years ago. In the spring of 2003, soon after United States launched the Iraq war, a retired Army officer…
Republicans in Congress are mistaken in believing harsh asylum policies will stem the tide of migrants swelling at the Southern border in search of refuge in the United States, a panel of immigration experts said. It is equally wrong to…
The Speaker of the House is a Baptist of the conservative Southern Baptist variety. In his first interview after being elected speaker, Rep. Mike Johnson told Sean Hannity: “I am a Bible-believing Christian. Someone asked me today in the media,…
The evangelical narrative of one of America’s Founding Fathers continues to be so historically inaccurate that a duo of authors has released an updated version of their book defending the real legacy of Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson definitely was not a…
For a Baptist to oppose separation of church and state feels like disowning one’s own mother without cause. What more could Thomas Jefferson have done for Baptists than pen the First Amendment with John Leland, a Baptist preacher, looking over…
