Baptist News Global

Is Rick Warren reviving the fight against the fundamentalist takeover of the SBC?

Rick Warren announced a couple of weeks ago that he will appeal the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee’s decision to disfellowship Saddleback Church. In the past few days, Warren has grabbed a bullhorn and “taken to the streets,” so to…

An open letter to all Southern Baptists

Editor’s Note: Rick Warren published this open letter Friday, June 2, and sent it to various media outlets, including BNG. Rather than write a news story about the letter, we decided to run the full letter as an opinion piece….

Shurden Lecture takes on the ‘myth of American chosenness’

Modern American Christian nationalists stand apart from their predecessors who at least claimed some degree of respect for religious freedom and other values enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, a religion scholar said. Catherine Brekus, professor of the history of religion…

An open letter to Elijah Brown, Baptist World Alliance CEO

I am chagrined by the Baptist News Global report that you used your position with the Baptist World Alliance to dismiss T.J. Williams-Hauger from his participation with two BWA commissions: Interfaith Commission and the Racial Justice Commission. My chagrin rests…

Why this seminary professor’s view of MrBeast and his friend is deadly and dangerous

I’m trying to like Southwestern Seminary these days, but Daniel Darling just made it that much harder. The Fort Worth, Texas, seminary is promoting a piece Darling wrote for the conservative World magazine. Darling serves as director of the Land…

What happens when Tom Ascol finds Ted Cruz to be too liberal and quotes Leviticus 20:13?

When a prominent Southern Baptist pastor quotes Levitical law prescribing the death penalty for participants in gay sex, should that be interpreted as calling for capital punishment for gay people in America today? Apparently not, according to Florida pastor Tom…

Three billboards outside Nashville, Tennessee

During most trips down the interstate, drivers mindlessly zoom past billboards bombarding them with a blur of messages on their way to wherever they’re going. But every once in a while, travelers are confronted with a message about a different…

What I learned from Taylor Swift

I knew something was up weeks earlier. Making my typical hotel arrangements for the monthly trip to Nashville seemed complicated. Every hotel was sold out. Even my trusty 15-miles-outside-the-city economy hotel wanted $500 for a night’s stay. It only took…

Remembering Pulse nighclub and the power of affirmation

There are some meetings that, when they’re over, you know your life will never be the same. I remember pulling into a church parking lot on a Friday afternoon in September 2016 knowing in my heart I was a fish…

A primer on why Southern Baptists are fighting over women in ministry once again

Casual observers might have thought the Southern Baptist Convention settled its position on women in ministry 30 years ago. Turns out, that’s not the case at all. An issue that was explosive for the SBC during the heyday of its…

Baptist Children’s Homes of North Carolina loses president and board chair in same week

Editor’s note: this report was updated June 2 to add updated information. Baptist Children’s Homes of North Carolina has undergone a shakeup in leadership in recent weeks after one official was accused of killing a neighbor’s dogs and another abruptly…

Faith-based immigration advocates hopeful about new bill in Congress

Faith-based immigration advocates are getting behind a new bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives to strengthen border security, protect migrant children and create pathways for permanent residency for qualified immigrants already in the United States. The Evangelical…

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