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...
I was grateful to attend the second annual lecture of the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists at Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas Sept. 11. The lecturer, Susan Shaw, is professor of women, gender and sexuality studies and director of…
The truth telling of ethnic, racial and societal genocide no longer can be avoided. Certainly human fallibility is an all but guaranteed reality of existence, yet institutional and social abandonment of the people’s needs is a deliberate choice. This leads…
Baylor University has settled a yearslong lawsuit brought by 15 women who say they were sexually assaulted on or near campus — allegations that brought down a university president and football coach. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Notice…
The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee won’t release details of its investigation into how its former interim president lied about his resume, and the person lined up to be the next interim president withdrew his name the day after he…
“Celebrate Pride month,” proclaimed the merchandising at Target stores nationwide. But the retailer wasn’t celebrating when consumer backlash and boycotts led to a 5.4% drop in second quarter sales and forced the retailer to change course. Bud Light, the nation’s…
“Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of…
The ultra-conservative Calvinist complementarian crowd has been seeking evidence to convict Andy Stanley of “liberalism” for years, and now they think they’ve found the smoking gun. Except their “evidence” would only hold up if the jury were made up of…
Editor’s note: This is the sixth opinion piece in a new series on religious liberty authored by BJC Fellows and made possible by a grant from the Prichard Family Foundation. Religious practices, actors, displays and institutions are becoming increasingly…
How can journalists reach evangelicals who get triggered by the term “climate change”? This is the question Rebecca Randall asks in a piece last week for BioLogos. Despite the fact that 97% of scientists accept climate science and 92% of Americans who…
Architect and art historian Hadley Arnold knew she was in for some surprises when she began transforming an 1830 Rhode Island church into a second home; but she certainly didn’t expect to discover one of America’s most significant works of…
It doesn’t surprise me that new research shows white mainline Protestant clergy are more supportive of LGBTQ rights, abortion rights and racial justice than their congregations. I’ve been there, done that and have the scars to prove it. From my…
The allure of empire is so deeply baked into evangelical culture that it is expressed in compulsive and sometimes unconscious ways, author and scholar Karen Swallow Prior said. “We have this empire mentality,” Prior said during a Sept. 18 webinar…
