Baptist News Global

Still no external review of North American Mission Board finances

For at least two years, critics of the current leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention North American Mission Board have been seeking some way to crack open the mission board’s books, where they believe fraud is being hidden. This week,…

The SBC rebuffed its most extreme factions but remains extremely conservative

By some accounts, the Southern Baptist Convention once again rejected its most extreme factions during this year’s annual meeting in Anaheim, Calif. But by any outside measure, the nation’s largest non-Catholic denomination remains extremely conservative. Defining the term “conservative” within…

Attempt to dismantle SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission fails

In yet another setback to the most conservative wing of the Southern Baptist Convention, an attempt to disband the denomination’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission failed June 15. This vote was the culmination of a years-long campaign against the ERLC…

Brian Foreman named CBF’s coordinator of congregational ministries

North Carolina educator Brian Foreman has been named coordinator of congregational ministries for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. He was chosen for the newly created position by an eight-member search committee, then affirmed in the role by the CBF Governing Board….

A Bubba-Doo’s regular loses a loved one

I stopped outside the door at my favorite hangout, Bubba-Doo’s, to hold it open for an acquaintance. I knew Landrum from his occasional visits there to the country store. He showed up some afternoons and very rarely said much. In…

Most Americans hang out with people who are a lot like them

A majority of Americans associate most closely with people who look, think, vote and worship like them, according to new research by Public Religion Research Institute. “Across demographic groups, Americans’ core friendship networks tend to be dominated by people of…

The oxymoron of being both anti-abortion and pro-gun

The recent mass murder events help to nudge the conscience, a conscience that has been beaten senseless by the incessant beating of the anti-abortion drum and the idolatrous-like worship of the Second Amendment. The oxymoron of being both anti-abortion and…

Southern Baptists approve sexual abuse response and debate doctrinal parameters

Southern Baptists spent their annual meeting debating how tight the doctrinal boundaries should be around the denomination’s fellowship. Sexual abusers are out. But so are members of the LGBTQ community and those who support them. Women pastors are out, although a…

Breaking news: It will be a four-way race for SBC president

Just hours before the nomination of candidates for the position of president of the Southern Baptist Convention, a fourth candidate emerged. Frank Cox, pastor of North Metro Baptist Church in Lawrenceville, Ga., will join Florida pastor Tom Ascol, Texas pastor…

Class action lawsuit on LGBTQ discrimination at faith-based schools continues to gain momentum

A class action lawsuit accusing the U.S. Department of Education of wrongly allowing discrimination against LGBTQ students at faith-based schools has grown in number of participants and in general support over the past 15 months. The Religious Exemption Project filed…

My trip to the seamy world of horseracing

I have been looking for an excuse to wear my fedora. When friends from church invited us to the horse races, they assumed we had been before. They do not know I am still working through the list of things…

At 10-year anniversary, the Dreamers sometimes feel like they’re in a nightmare

June 15 marks the 10-year anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, but no one seems to be celebrating. Conservative leaders bent on ending immigration across the board yearn for the demise of DACA, a 2012 creation of…

Rise of American authoritarianism demands a choice, Perryman says

Shaving Dad goodbye

The Enhanced Games were another MAGA grift

It’s bad interpretation, not the Bible, limiting female pastors