Baptist News Global

Transitions for the week of 1-20-23

Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated bi-weekly. STAFF CHANGES Carlton Allen, to First Baptist Church, Greenwood, S.C., as interim pastor, effective Feb. 1. Steve Battaglia, to New…

Class-action suit against Department of Education alleging discrimination in Title IX exemptions dismissed

A challenge of the U.S. Department of Education granting religious exemptions to faith-based schools that allow them to discriminate while receiving federal funding has been dismissed by a U.S. District Court judge. Judge Ann Aiken of the U.S. District Court…

Ron DeSantis: The anti-woke prophet of evangelicals

It’s no secret that Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida plans to ride an anti-wokeness wave to the White House. To get there, he has turned his sights increasingly on higher education — specifically “woke” professors. Whatever “wokeness” means, for DeSantis…

‘Grief brain’: The three big deficits of grief

Grief is relentless. The only way to get through grief is to grieve. The only way to get through the pain is to feel and process the pain. One of the best ways to manage the stress and anxiety that…

Prayer might not be enough

When someone shares a prayer request, what do you hear? We’ve been programmed to tell others when we have a need for God’s help. Many of us grew up going to Wednesday prayer service, where a significant block of time…

Supreme Court will hear former postal employee’s appeal that he shouldn’t have to work on Sundays because he’s a Christian

After denying three similar requests in recent years, the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a case that challenges a 1977 court ruling defining what constitutes an “undue hardship” for an employer faced with a religious accommodation request….

New survey: Republicans and white evangelicals are outliers in fear of immigrants invading U.S.

The gap between Americans on immigration is steadily widening as conservatives increasingly embrace anti-immigrant attitudes that include a belief that migrants are invading the United States to displace white citizens, according to new research by Public Religion Research Institute. The…

How our view of creation and incarnation shape our view of intersex people

Every disconnection from communal wholeness goes back to a disconnection within the self, which is fundamentally experienced in bodies. So the way Christians talk about Jesus being born as a human body has the potential to shape either wholeness or…

Mending broken pieces and broken lives with kintsugi

Sometimes understanding other cultures’ artistic and spiritual perspectives brings greater meaning to our shared humanity. This article is about brokenness in my creative world. As 2022 came to a close, I designed a New Year’s card with one of my…

When my church and I let Jesus down: Jesus in the distressing disguise of the homeless

My wife and I were in the mountains of North Carolina (Bakersville) for a week and a half during the Christmas season staying in what used to be her parents’ home. On a few days it was cold, bone-chilling cold….

Religious liberty advocates applaud Biden administration rollback of Trump policies allowing faith-based discrimination

Traditional religious liberty advocates applauded a move by the Biden administration to undo rules created by the Trump administration that allowed faith-based organizations receiving federal fundings to discriminate against clients. Due to the complex nature of changing federal policies —…

What I’m learning as a Maston Scholar: ‘Don’t forget!’

“Don’t forget!” Those were the exact words a professor shared with us at the recent retreat for T.B. Maston Scholars. I was touched in a way that was a call for action for myself and the Christian world. I am…

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