Baptist News Global

Advocacy group that fought COVID church closures in California awarded $2.1 million for legal fees

The conservative Christian advocacy group that fought the state of California’s mandates on church closures during the coronavirus pandemic will be reimbursed by the state for more than $2 million in legal fees. Separate settlements were announced between the state…

The Tulsa Race Massacre is personal to me, and remembering is a holy act

1921 is personal to me. It is personal for two reasons. 1921 was the year of my mother’s birth in Muskogee, Okla. Had she lived, she would be 100 years old this coming September. My mom used to say, “If…

Immigration advocates applaud official end of ‘remain in Mexico’ policy

The Biden Administration has officially ended a 2019 immigration policy that forced tens of thousands of Central American refugees to remain in dangerous Mexican cities to await asylum hearings as they seek entry into the United States. President Joe Biden…

Rock the boat, don’t tip the boat over

There is a lot of time to think while sitting in the hospital — at least intermittently between all the doctor’s visits and texting the grandparents and friends about what is going on with the kiddo. The body is amazing…

They grew up in purity culture, then taught it and now want to help others recover from it

Ryan Clark and Nathan Novero grew up in evangelical purity culture and even preached it as youth ministers. Now they are trying to address the sexual dysfunction and trauma inflicted on themselves and others by what seemed at the time…

Clergy mental health is a choice between life and death

I took a leave of absence in 2020, and it saved my life. I serve as pastor of a church in Oklahoma, and it’s been a heck of a year. Even before the pandemic, we navigated painful staff changes and…

Upcoming Supreme Court ruling could influence child care case in Kentucky too

With an important Supreme Court ruling on foster care and religious discrimination coming any day, a Kentucky Baptist child care agency is fighting its own battle to continue denying same-sex couples from becoming foster or adoptive parents. The pending Supreme…

Police and clergy join forces in this Virginia city to train officers in community assets more than deficits

The Danville, Va., Police Department’s new community immersion program connects rookie officers with leaders, including pastors, and residents in the city’s most diverse and economically challenged neighborhoods. Baptist pastor Joshua Hearne helped design the course, and the experience was a…

It’s time to live like mystics

I spent the pandemic lamenting things I could not do — no restaurants, no movie theaters, no museums. I was excited when I got to go back to my favorite Mexican place, the neighborhood movie theater and the Metropolitan Museum…

How Karl Barth speaks to our post-pandemic needs

The pandemic has changed us. At a minimum, the last 15 months have awakened us to our vulnerabilities. So as the post-pandemic world begins to peek over the horizon, we’ve also become painfully aware of the deepening and widening division…

Is it now illegal to mention the Tulsa Race Massacre in the classrooms of Oklahoma?

On June 1, 1921, the Greenwood district of Tulsa, home to more than 10,000 Black residents, was intentionally destroyed by a white mob. An estimated 300 Black residents died; close to 1,000 were seriously injured. Every home in the 30-block…

There’s controversy again, and more people are attending the SBC annual meeting

The Southern Baptist Convention is on track to have its most attended and most consequential annual meeting in 25 years when it gathers in Nashville June 15-16. Ronnie Floyd, president of the SBC Executive Committee, announced on Twitter that pre-registration…

Eradicating DEI hasn’t made anything better

How Christian nationalism shows up in patriotic worship services

Dear Trump-supporting Christians, are you really OK with this?

‘Every Student. Every State’ campaign promotes school tax credit