Baptist News Global

Remaining BTSR assets granted to two new initiatives in Virginia

The final distribution of assets from Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond will help launch a new Center for Faith, Justice and Reconciliation and a Baptist House of Studies at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond. As previously reported, Union Presbyterian Seminary…

Truth Decay: What is truth?

“What is truth?” — Pontius Pilate (John 18:38) Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in a famous essay called “What Is Meant by ‘Telling the Truth’” claimed that truth telling is “expressing reality in words.” Bonhoeffer’s shorthand definition reflects the commonsense, most familiar understanding…

SBC seminary presidents are propagating fear to maintain control

This is the first in a series of opinion columns to be published over the next three weeks exploring Critical Race Theory. Earlier this month, all six presidents of the seminaries controlled by the Southern Baptist Convention announced a total…

When a Facebook ‘friend’ told me I didn’t understand the power of God

My 70th birthday arrived recently, and my wife, Sharon, kept telling me it’s a big deal. I think she means a big deal this year; next year, when it’s her turn, we’ll see. It causes me to think about why…

Fire destroys historic home of Middle Collegiate Church in New York

A six-alarm fire destroyed the historic building of Middle Collegiate Church in New York City on Saturday, Dec. 5. The church, affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the Reformed Church in America, has several Baptist connections through staff…

Holidays 2020 may evoke a darker shade of grief and isolation, panelists say

The COVID-19 pandemic has imbued grieving and isolation with deeper, darker shades during the 2020 holiday season, a panel of experts said during a Dec. 3 webinar hosted by Baptist News Global. The pain of suffering loss or, for LGBTQ…

Is attacking a candidate’s sermon different than attacking a candidate’s speeches?

Attacking a political candidate for something said in a speech is different than attacking a candidate for something preached in a sermon, according to Amanda Tyler, executive director of Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. Tyler and BJC Director of…

Southern Baptist leaders amplify Trump’s lies about election fraud

Prominent Southern Baptist leaders were among those taking to social media Dec. 2 to affirm and defend Donald Trump’s 46-minute video in which he repeated blatantly false accusations that the 2020 election was rigged against him and should be overturned….

How 300 children lost their fathers to lynching on a single day because of a conspiracy theory

At last count, 73,923,495 Americans have voted for Donald Trump. Trump eclipsed Barack Obama’s previous record by more than 4.5 million votes. Trump topped his own 2016 performance by 11 million votes. That’s huge. Trump lost the election; but he…

Trump wants to bring back firing squads, Trump supporters want to execute opponents, while support for death penalty continues to decline

While American support for the death penalty continues to decline, the Trump administration in its waning days seeks to return electrocution and firing squads as means of capital punishment. And several supporters of Donald Trump’s failed re-election bid this week…

Panel urges Southern Seminary to make amends for past racial sins

Panelists at a Dec. 2 virtual forum on “Race and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary” agreed the Louisville, Ky., school’s entanglements with slavery and racism demand a stronger response than the school has put forward. However, participants in the West…

More churches defined as racially diverse but that doesn’t lead to racial justice work

Evidence that American churches have become more racially diverse doesn’t mean they have become increasingly active in promoting racial justice causes, according to a new sociological study. “We do see this slow-but-steady rise in the percentage of congregations in the…

Trump’s war on ‘woke’ targets federal grants and foreign relations

Reflections on In the Twilight of the Christian West

Why rural families need support now

Why do we keep sounding the alarm?