It is midnight. Not the kind of midnight measured by clocks. The kind that settles into your bones. The kind that lingers long after the sun has risen. We all know this midnight. It is the midnight of the marriage...
What do we call the American holiday coming up soon? The Fourth of July? Or Independence Day? A long-time friend answered that question for me in a dialogue we had two years ago. “It’s just the Fourth of July,” she…
Its continuing domestic crackdowns on minority religious groups and its invasion of Ukraine have solidified Russia’s status as one of the world’s leading violators of religious freedom, U.S. officials announced this month. “Following its designation as a Country of Particular…
There is most likely a virus inside your body right now. Probably even a few. These latent viruses are tiny squatters that call our bodies home. Some of the more well-known latent viruses inhabit as much as 80% to 90%…
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…
