Note: This post is an excerpt from a chapter titled “Juneteenth” in the author’s forthcoming book, Backslide: Reclaiming a Faith and a Nation After the Christian Turn Against Democracy, which will be published September 8 and is now available for pre-order....
A moment more than 13 billion years in the making happened last Tuesday as the James Webb Space Telescope revealed its first five images to the world. Hailed by NASA as “the dawn of a new era in astronomy,” the images revealed…
Nothing says Christianity like the story of the Good Samaritan. This story captures who we are, what we are to do and how we are to treat all others. Some people say Jesus is the Good Samaritan and we are…
A great-grandson of the first Jewish Supreme Court Justice and of the most prominent early 20th century Baptist pastor teaching the Social Gospel has been named leader of Interfaith Alliance, an organization dedicated to protecting the integrity of both religion…
A buzz was in the air. There was no disputing that something unusual was happening. Although the big news involved my favorite hangout, I actually heard about it at my office rather than at the store. Bubba-Doo’s was going to…
After 12 years on the campus of Georgetown College, Baptist Seminary of Kentucky has moved to larger quarters in Lexington, Ky., the city where it was founded 20 years ago. The seminary has more than doubled its space by making…
Christianity, as we have always known it, is in trouble. I’m not just referring to declining church attendance and survey numbers that suggest fewer and fewer people are interested. Although the spiritual need within humans remains strong, people are looking…
A major obstacle to racial justice and reconciliation is white blindness to the systemic nature of racism and the refusal to acknowledge and seek redemption for past and present oppression, a South African anti-apartheid activist said during the Baptist World…
The recent Supreme Court decision to reverse Roe v. Wade has reminded us that the state of women in our country is more disturbing than we might at first want to think. Not only have the rights of women to…
The two top leadership roles for Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Global Missions soon will be vacant, as Sam Harrell leaves his post as associate coordinator July 31. He has been named full-time coordinator of Africa Exchange, which serves vulnerable children in…
Last week, Carol and I joined the 4 to 5 million pilgrims who will make their way this year to Assisi, Italy, the cradle of Franciscan spirituality, to walk in the footsteps of St. Francis and buy sacred refrigerator magnets….
While response to recent Supreme Court rulings on abortion, religious liberty and gun control have shown how widely out of step conservative evangelicals in America are from the rest of the population, there’s fresh data showing a similar gap on…
The ongoing surge in U.S. cremation rates can accurately be described as “stunning,” author and grief educator Harold Ivan Smith said. “When I was in mortuary school in 1966, cremation was probably done in 1% of cases,” said Smith, also…
