Baptist News Global

In Colonial Williamsburg, a paved-over parking lot and an almost-lost school teach lessons about racism

Recent archaeological and architectural discoveries revealed part of “the hidden story of racism in colonial America” for participants in a Baptist News Global educational tour of Colonial Williamsburg and Richmond, Va. In Colonial Williamsburg, they visited the original building site…

Be not afraid: The encouragement of Revelation for our modern moment

Every time our country or the world faces a major crisis, people ask, “Is this the end of the world?” And every time a crisis occurs, Christians begin to open their Bibles to that strange and mysterious book in the…

The brutal honesty of The Book of Mormon

I’ve seen the hit Broadway musical The Book of Mormon twice. Deliciously blasphemous, it is as profound as it is profane. It’s also brutally honest and theologically instructive. Written by the creators of South Park (Matt Parker and Trey Stone),…

Transitions for the week of 9-9-22

Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated bi-weekly. STAFF CHANGES Neal Abbott, to Dellview Baptist Church, San Antonio, Texas, as pastor. Jonathon Acosta, to Eagle Eyrie Baptist Conference…

Queer Christian artist Semler wants to attend the Dove Awards as somebody’s plus-one

With their album The Preacher’s Kid, Semler was the first openly queer Christian artist to climb to No. 1 album on the Christian music charts just last year. Within the same year, Semler released a second No. 1 album titled…

The troubled waters of sexual diversity: Moving from reflection to action

This is the seventh and final article in a series on sexual diversity. If we were profiling you, a reader of Baptist News Global, our profile would look something like this: You are English-language literate; college-educated, probably with some graduate…

A friend defends Matt Chandler, the elders issue a statement, and nothing else is any clearer

If you thought the Matt Chandler situation couldn’t get more peculiar, guess again. Chandler’s Aug. 28 announcement that he would take an indefinite leave of absence from preaching and teaching at The Village Church north of Dallas has generated endless…

Faith communities are undergoing upheaval, awakening and maybe transformation

Something is happening in the religious and spiritual universe. Many people, if they care about religion at all, have noticed the changing face of religion and spirituality in the United States and throughout the world. Most Americans consider themselves spiritual,…

Vaccine hesitancy is not a matter of doctrine, but for some it remains a matter of faith

One-fifth of the United States population remains unvaccinated against COVID-19, and one-third are not fully vaccinated. The gap between the vaccinated and unvaccinated remains for much the same reason that has been true from the beginning: Those least likely to…

‘Radical new arrangements’: On conservative Christian radicalization in the U.S.

After a year of researching the matter rather deeply — including listening to conservative scholars, activists and politicians — it has become completely clear to me that a significant chunk of conservative Christians in the United States has moved from…

An entire city with no water doesn’t fit the playbook for disaster relief organizations

When the capital city of Mississippi had no running water for an entire week, government agencies came to the rescue with water distribution outlets, but some of the major faith-based disaster relief organizations were nowhere to be found. Why? The…

Baldwin, Bobby and the necessity of hard conversations

I’ve been engaging in hard conversations about race for the past seven years. Sometimes I’m asked if they matter, if anything can change hearts and minds. Not long ago, a friend who is a devout Christian and a person of…

How much is enough?

Robert Sloan, Baptist educator, dies at 77

What patriotism is not

Amid flurry of rulings, habeas corpus spells trouble for Trump immigration policies