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....
As Russian tanks, troops and bombs poured into Ukraine, imagine if President Joe Biden had announced to the world: “This is shocking. We pledge to help Ukrainians save their lives and freedom for one year. Next year, though, we may…
Four new members have been elected to the board of directors for Baptist News Global, an independent national nonprofit news service. Joining the board are Kevin Pranoto of Little Rock, Ark.; Susan Shaw of Corvallis, Ore.; Sid Smith III of…
The first Uyghur American appointed to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has been elected the group’s chairman. Nury Turkel was elected unanimously to the post by his fellow commissioners. Also, Abraham Cooper, a recognized authority on antisemitism, was…
A Mexican cartel got more than it bargained for earlier this month by kidnapping Lorenzo Ortiz, an American pastor who operates shelters for asylum seekers and other migrants south of the U.S.-Mexico border. His abduction at 6 p.m. June 2…
The quest for racial justice in the United States needs more white people who hear the concerns of their Black neighbors and respond with concrete actions, a Black church scholar wrote in a New York newspaper. In an op-ed published…
I should have figured this out right away, but it took me several months of driving by the mid-sized Baptist church building on the busy freeway to connect all the dots. The church I knew had been battling decline for…
While I was writing my first book, my 85-year-old mother died unexpectedly. She was in an assisted living facility, but she had no serious health issues. She entered the hospital severely dehydrated and was in acute renal failure, although she…
A state Baptist convention’s planned sale of its multi-million-dollar office building has hit a snag with county zoning officials. The Georgia Baptist Mission Board needs to sell its 40-acre property located in Gwinnett County, Ga., and it has a buyer…
In a May 26 New York Times column, “The Southern Baptist Moral Meltdown,” conservative commentator David Brooks wrote: “They dedicated their lives to a gospel that says that every human being is made in the image of God. They dedicated…
Providing further evidence that evangelical Christian voters no longer care about some moral failures as disqualifying, those attending the Faith and Freedom Coalition gathering in Nashville June 18 applauded Herschel Walker, despite recent revelations that he fathered three children not…
Women in ministry continue to feel blocked in their callings and ignored in their ministry settings because they are female, according to an annual report released June 21 by Baptist Women in Ministry. “The State of Women in Baptist Life,”…
As surely as we can expect thunderstorms in the summer, hurricanes in the fall and blizzards in the winter, the church is about to experience a season of conflict that threatens to unravel our faith communities. Much of this is…
