I had some idealistic younger days when I would argue that no child should be punished, but the days didn't last long. Even before I learned the hard way from my own children, I saw time after time the devastating…
SBCV marks 500-plus churches
HAMPTON (BP)—The annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia convened Nov. 12-13 in Hampton, drawing nearly 1,200 people who marked the convention's surpassing the 500 mark in total churches. In a business session, messengers admitted 21 churches into…
Video violence and aggressive behavior linked, studies show
Repeated exposure to video violence—particularly interactive games —influences aggressive behavior more than drug use, poverty or domestic abuse, a University of Michigan researcher has asserted. In fact, the correlation between media violence and aggression is at least as strong as…
Mo. Baptists restrict church start funding
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (ABP)—A decision by Missouri Baptist Convention leaders to cut off funding for certain new church starts has set off a firestorm of protest and further widened a rift among conservative Baptists in the state. MBC Executive Board…
Set example, students urged at HIV/AIDS conference
LAKE FOREST, Calif. (BP)—Today's young Christians are the church, not the church's future, and it's time they take seriously the Bible's call to care for “the least of these,” including those with HIV/AIDS, Francis Chan told students at a youth…
SECOND OPINION: Silent night: Not easy for most of us
RICHMOND (BP) — Message spotted on a church sign: “Christmas: expectant hush, not last-minute rush.” Rush we can do. Hush, not so much. Given a choice between a day of silence and stillness or of noise and distraction, the average…
Happy new year?
When does the New Year begin? For Christians observing the church calendar, the new year began Dec. 2, with the start of the Advent season. The liturgical year is an “or-derly way to look at the full scope of Christian…
FAITH DIGEST
Court rejects faith-based prison program. An Iowa prisoner rehabilitation program run by evangelicals oversteps church-state boundaries and should not receive government funds, a federal appeals court has ruled. InnerChange Freedom Initiative runs a program “dominated by Bible study, Christian classes,…
SECOND OPINION: Getting past reaction
One of the enduring tendencies in human life is reaction. Unhappy with the prevailing tendencies of a person or group we oppose, especially in situations of sharp conflict, we swing sharply in the other direction. Oftentimes when we do so…
We three kings of Orient are … mostly unknown to Christians
They came. They saw. They gifted. That's about all we know of the foreign visitors who traveled to Bethlehem to see the infant Jesus. The scene ingrained in the public imagination — a stately procession of three kings in turbans,…
Integrity demands preachers avoid pulpit plagiarism
If preachers pass off other people's work as their own, they automatically limit themselves to preaching about only eight commandments. “Thou shalt not steal” and “thou shalt not bear false witness” become off-limits. But preachers can avoid plagiarism by beginning…
Out Loud
“A headline last Sunday about a Muslim man and an Orthodox woman who are partners in two Dunkin' Donuts stores described their religions incorrectly. The two faiths worship the same God — not different ones.” The New York Times The…