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....
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…
Do you remember Pat, the hilariously androgynous character seen on Saturday Night Live in the early 1990s? The humor focused on Pat’s gender ambiguity and the discomfort of others encountering them. The tension never was resolved for the SNL audience,…
Joe Paterno was an iconic figure, loved by college football and the community where he lived. Unfortunately, his career and reputation were tarnished by accusations that Paterno had protected his assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky, who for decades molested children. While…
Go ahead and ask me what I’ll remember most from 2022. I’m pretty sure I know what it’ll be. This year’s memory-making competition could be fierce, for sure: History will record Russia’s unprompted, immoral, savage war on Ukraine in bold…
Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated bi-weekly. STAFF CHANGES Dirk Austin, concluding his tenure as associate minister of music for Antioch Baptist Church, Taylorsville, N.C. Sarah Boberg,…
Are you searching for new skills needed to navigate life these days? The familiar paths were linear and logical, and too often, they go nowhere. Many feel they’re walking a labyrinth in the shadows. Imagine that circular shape and come…
In the last six months of his sojourn abroad as a medical student, Maurice Nwokejiezi has, on at least two occasions, come up against forces determined to thwart his ambition. The first was in Ukraine where in February, as a…
It is encouraging and difficult to digest the information in the report on the State of Women in Baptist Life. One set of numbers that caught my eye is dedicated to the number of women ordained in the Baptist tradition….
