This is the ninth in a BNG series of articles on Christianity and democracy that will lead toward the July 4 celebration of America’s 250th birthday. The series has been curated by Carol McEntyre, senior minister at First Baptist Church of...
I recently highlighted the Jesus-Joshua problem: Jesus wants us to love our enemies. Joshua wants us to slaughter them. Both can’t be right. But what about the demand for justice that reverberates throughout Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation? If we…
Historians, academics and authors Beth Allison Barr and Kristin Kobes Du Mez discussed the challenges and rewards of being Christian women in a male-oriented world and profession during a wide-ranging discussion at Baylor University Feb. 16. Barr, the James Vardaman…
White evangelicals who claim they love the Bible but dismiss its demands for social justice as devious misinterpretations of “woke” culture continue to astound Beth Moore, she told participants in a conference sponsored by Baylor University’s George W. Truett Seminary….
An Indiana pastor who reported two congregations to the Southern Baptist Convention’s Credentials Committee for platforming accused sexual abuser Johnny Hunt has resigned from the SBC’s Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force. Todd Benkert’s sudden resignation from the task force came…
When First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Fla., announced all members would have to sign a statement on “biblical sexuality” or be kicked out, the idea sounded novel to most Baptists. Baptists in America are not accustomed to being required to…
Jean Vanier, the renowned and beloved author, speaker and founder of L’Arche, an international network of residential communities supporting adults with intellectual disabilities, also was a sexual predator of women, according to a report released Jan. 30. The report was…
“We don’t have to die like this. We don’t have to live like this.” Those two sentences have become something of a mantra for Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. I heard her say…
The church’s failure to care for all people with the compassion Christ commanded fuels white supremacy and racial injustice, Sean Palmer said during a Baylor University conference on racism and faith. “It’s the failure to love neighbor that has always…
It’s likely that mainline United Methodists are only vaguely aware of the “revival” happening at United Methodist-adjacent Asbury University. But it’s an event evangelicals across denominational lines can’t stop talking about, and so I’ll jump in. If “revivals” are not…
To champion sexuality and gender inclusion while denying respectful disagreement reeks of hypocrisy. Take the recent case of National Hockey League player Ivan Provorov, a defenseman for the Philadelphia Flyers. For their Jan. 17 game against the Anaheim Ducks, the…
A quarter of the world’s teenagers say the church has “definitely” lost its effectiveness as a force against injustice, poverty and environmental challenges, new research shows. But in the United States, Generation Z is more optimistic about organized religion’s role…
Not every experience of God occurs in a revival. But revivals are perennial in American Christianity. In the past, they have made their mark upon the social landscape and changed daily Christian habits. There is the “Burned Over District” in…
