As the Southern Baptist Convention in its recent annual meeting has proved itself unreliably Baptist, it gives me pause to think about how quickly the transmogrification of this Baptist denomination into its ecclesiastical opposite has happened. Baptist folk often have...
More than 65 years of “church going” has made me appreciate a comfortable “church.” My bum is not what it used to be, so a little padding helps — actually a lot. A good sound system that can fill in…
The plan to withdraw all American forces from Afghanistan by Sept. 11 has become increasingly problematic for the Biden administration, which is faced not only with gradually and safely returning military personnel to the U.S. but also grappling with the…
The term “white supremacist” tends to elicit a stereotypical image of a raging, gun-toting, Confederate-flag-waving white man. The image is fueled by recent acts of extremism like the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., four years ago or the…
Americans’ attitudes about COVID-19 vaccination remain largely unchanged since January, but about one-fifth of those who said they would not get vaccinated have changed their minds and taken the jab. A common reason for changing their minds is seeing family…
The sound of skidding tires filled the air as the car spun around, the window rolled down, and an arm reached out. It wasn’t until the third shot that I realized that I was staring down the barrel of a…
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has joined “As Born Among Us,” an ecumenical and international network intent on more comprehensively and compassionately ministering to migrants and potential migrants in the United States, Mexico and the Northern Triangle of Central America —…
To understand the problem of global COVID vaccine inequity, consider these statistics: “We have crossed the figure of 3 billion vaccine doses administered (globally), and still only 0.3% of those have gone to low-income countries. Of the 2.6 billion tests…
A church musician colleague and friend sat in my office across from my desk and told me this story. I still remember his halting words and his ashen face. He had been called to a new music ministry in a…
Recently during worship, my minister sang a song of lament he composed about the whitewashed history of violence and slavery in the United States. In “This House,” Aaron Austin sang: “They said it was history, time to move on. They…
Imagine the conflicts that could be ended and prevented if the world’s faith leaders got to know one another and began to advocate for those experiencing religious persecution everywhere, said Sam Brownback, the former U.S. ambassador for international religious freedom…
A lot of good advice has been broadcast these days, including frequent reminders about kindness. Most everyone feels some responsibility to be a little kinder, which is kind of ironic because since we’re having less contact with each other, how…
If you’re looking for the most religiously diverse counties in America, head to New York. If you’re looking for the least religiously diverse counties in America, head to Mississippi and Alabama. That’s the top-line takeaway from the most comprehensive documentation…
