Baptist News Global

The politics of nothing and the enabling church

There’s a politics loose in our democracy that is all about nothing. The evangelical church serves as the incubator and enabler of the politics of nothing. This is not a sermon, but it suggests a biblical text: “The grass withers,…

With pending return of Benin Bronzes, the Smithsonian approaches a more modern ethical standard

Since becoming king of the Benin kingdom in southern Nigeria, Eheneden Erediauwa has embarked on a vigorous campaign to retrieve many of the kingdom’s artworks, lost or looted from the royal palace over the past century and a half, and…

Stacey Abrams aims to stand in ‘shoes no one’s ever worn before’

When I sat down to interview Stacey Abrams, I remembered the day my daughter, Zyan, was born. As with many parents who see their children for the first time, that remains a memorable and even profoundly spiritual moment. I remember…

America will be better as gumbo than a melting pot, scholar says

Americans can undermine white supremacy and Christian nationalism by emulating the values and actions of the Good Samaritan, Jonathan C. “Jay” Augustine said March 29 to open the Walter B. and Kay W. Shurden Lectures on Religious Liberty and Separation…

Moving lightly through this world: Reflections on the weight of white Christian innocence

In the wake of recent travels, I’ve been thinking about the novelty of the experience against the backdrop of the pandemic. What was routine now seems exotic; what was comfortable seems unsettling. I’ve seen a lot of discussion about the loss…

Hymn stories: Lord, Who Throughout These 40 Days

Many congregations sing Lord, Who Throughout These 40 Days during the season of Lent, unaware of its origin as a children’s hymn. It is one of the few hymns written addressing the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness. (see…

‘Faith is relationship’ — truer now than it was almost five decades ago

A short sentence has echoed through my adult life, and it rings truer now than it did 46 years ago. “Faith is relationship,” Clint Dunagan told a room full of Hardin-Simmons University freshmen in the spring of 1976. We learned…

When a child comes out, every family’s journey is different, professor says

Healthy parental responses to a child coming out as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender cannot be reduced to a one-size-fits-all formula, said one of the nation’s leading Christian counselors and scholars focused on sexual identity. “There is no one family…

White liberation: Toward a theology of recognition and repentance

Over the past month, I’ve had the great gift and responsibility of traveling the country talking to primarily white Christians about racism in the church and in America. At Trinity Church, Wall Street, America’s wealthiest congregation, I shared some of…

New Texas seminary renamed to honor Jesse Fletcher

The seminary that was to be birthed as a named successor to Logsdon Seminary now will be called Jesse C. Fletcher Seminary. The San Antonio, Texas-based school plans to open this fall with three classes offered, according to Jonathan Davis, vice president…

Baseball is teaching my grandchildren how to cheer for others

My heart jumped into my mouth as my adult son, Doug, began to unwrap the baseball supplies he had purchased for his son, Harris, ahead of the beginning of his first T-ball season. Spilling from the plastic bags were tiny…

Except for white evangelicals, Americans have soured on Trump’s leadership

CBF approves $16 million budget, leaders challenge more mission

The Black Church was not meant to save America

Caner sues Truett-McConnell for wrongful firing