Baptist News Global

Franklin Graham says required teaching of LGBT history is ‘an affront to God’

Saying public schools have no right to teach something “that is an affront to God,” evangelist Franklin Graham urged parents in states that require LGQTQ-inclusive teaching to either homeschool their children or enroll them in private schools during a radio interview Aug. 15.

Called to ‘go hard in the paint’ for Jesus: Trump isn’t our biggest problem; we are

Christianity is not a game of chess. Following Jesus is risky business. What we need are knees worn out from prayer, hearts captivated by biblical authority and a will surrendered to God’s will, committed to go, do and say whatsoever God desires, no matter the outcome.

Toni Morrison and the story of Rizpah: creating language that heals in a time of trauma

How the late Toni Morrison “did language” invited a greater intentionality in telling the stories that might make for a different future. What could be more important in these troubling and traumatic days than crafting language that heals a broken nation, a people concerned about the current dystopic narrative?

Inspired by the women of scripture, Baptist minister champions reproductive rights

Some female theologians argue women should abandon the Bible because its language and depictions of women are oppressive. While Baptist minister Katey Zeh certainly sees that oppression in those pages, she isn’t ready to give up on scripture.

How churches that don’t think they are anti-Semitic promote anti-Semitism

The church has not just been on the wrong side of history, but on the wrong side of Christianity. Anti-Semitism is by definition a repudiation of Christianity as well as of Judaism, and an enemy of pluralism and democracy.

U.S. Baptist leaders urge protection for pastors who testified about religious freedom in Burma

Fear that two pastors who testified at last month’s State Department Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom might face arrest on their return to Myanmar prompted letters of concern from Baptist leaders in the United States.

‘It feels like being hunted’: American churches, mass shootings and ‘the slaughter of the innocents’

It’s a question we have asked countless times: have we reached a turning point? Do our faith communities, whose history began at the place of the skull and the killing fields of a Roman coliseum, have a will or a witness for our assault-weapon-proliferated, executionary times?

Transitions for the week of 8-16-19

Recent church staff changes, anniversaries, ordinations and deaths within the moderate and progressive Baptist network.

CBF Kentucky shows solidarity with protesting coal miners in Harlan County

Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Kentucky volunteers from various churches traveled Aug. 4 to Harlan County to join laborers blockading railroad tracks leading to a coal mine that closed abruptly while owing them weeks of back pay.

Parallels between the racist rhetoric of Trump and Wallace are undeniable. But there is one important difference

Donald Trump rode to political power on words even more inflammatory and vitriolic than those of the early George Wallace in the 1960s. At least Wallace, late in life, demonstrated the moral capacity to re-evaluate himself. To this point, at least, Trump has not.

Anti-racist discipleship: a solution to the same death-dealing lies of white supremacy James Baldwin wrote about

Baldwin’s “mystical” solution to the lies of white supremacy is immensely practical. Such spirituality looks like organizing our communities to attend to the political and economic wounds our nation inflicts and to bring into practice a community that is at once more grounded and more beautiful than we have dared to imagine.

Faith leaders say Kentucky governor doesn’t speak for all Baptists when it comes to abortion

After Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin denounced his Democratic challenger’s stance on abortion as an insult to Kentucky Baptists, ministers at two Louisville Baptist churches joined other faith leaders in a press conference defending both their faith and a woman’s right to choose.

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?