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...
Earlier this month, Alexander Lang’s blog post “Departure: Why I Left the Church” lit up clergy social media. To date, it has garnered north of 380,000 views. The day it hit, I saw it on the Facebook feeds of three…
Focus on the Family helped form a network of conservative political groups that includes the Heritage Foundation and Americans for Prosperity, two influential secular groups that share Focus on the Family’s opposition to taxes, government regulation, environmental protections and labor…
Sebrena Williamson has been named director of programs and partnerships for Together for Hope’s work in Appalachia. Together for Hope is a rural development coalition engaging the 301 counties of persistent rural poverty in America. Launched 20 years ago by…
I still remember the smell, the food and the sounds of my childhood and formative years growing up at First Baptist Church in Orlando. The interactions at our Wednesday night dinners were transformative to me as a kid. Although it’s…
BNG columnist Terry Austin, 72, died unexpectedly Sept. 22, according to a statement from the family. Raised the son of a Southern Baptist pastor in Colorado, Austin went on to become a Baptist minister himself, serving in both congregational ministry…
Only 2% of Americans describe themselves as both “religious” and “spiritual,” while most others claim to be one or the other, according to a new study that examines how U.S. adults envision their faith identities. “Nearly half of Americans (47%)…
Two leaders of an Assemblies of God campus ministry network have been indicted in Texas on charges of indecency with a child and trafficking of persons. One of the indicted, Chris Hundl, previously led a chapter of Chi Alpha World…
Last month, controversy around the true nature of former NFL football player Michael Oher’s relationship with his adoptive family, depicted in the 2009 movie The Blind Side, reignited a conversation around “white saviorism” — the tendency for privileged white Westerners…
“Pastor Amy” will be the guest on this week’s BNG webinar with Executive Director Mark Wingfield. Amy Butler has written a new book, Beautiful and Terrible Things. This Thursday at 3 p.m. Central time, she’ll discuss the book and her…
Over the past two months, two reports brought into focus the contrasting fortunes of victims of terror relating to Nigeria. One was the story of Joy Bishara, a former victim of the terrorist group Boko Haram, now living in the…
So many of us look at America’s religious, political and racial landscape and wonder what on earth has happened. How is it possible that American evangelical Christians, who once insisted moral fitness matters, could vote for a creature such as…
The ugly legal battle between Jerry Falwell Jr. and Liberty University, the school he led and his father founded, grew uglier this week when Falwell leveled charges of financial and sexual impropriety against the school’s leaders. According to Religion News…
