Yesterday was one year since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. It’s a bit hard to put any words on e-paper today. Many of my public health and epidemiology friends are feeling the same way. It’s…
Baylor endows new academic chair in study of Black worship
Baylor University will create an endowed faculty position for the study of Black worship, with a gift from the Prichard Family Foundation and Ella Wall Prichard of Corpus Christi, Texas. The new Lev H. Prichard III Chair in the Study…
The strange saga of the Riley Foundation lawsuit now forces SBC to figure out who has the right to remove a seminary trustee
A months-long battle for ultimate control of the Southern Baptist Convention’s agencies and institutions came to light Feb. 21 when a trove of attorney communications exposed a rift between officers of the SBC Executive Committee and leaders of Southwestern Baptist…
Baylor regents ‘accept’ racial history report, will release findings by end of March
Baylor University’s board of regents “accepted” a final report of its Commission on Historic Campus Representations Feb. 19 but will not release the findings to the public until the end of March. Lori Fogleman, university spokesperson, said the report will…
Baylor prof leads innovative team working to disrupt human trafficking
Criminal justice experts and academics, including a Baylor University professor, are teaming up to provide a technological edge to the law enforcement battle against human trafficking. Stacie Petter, professor of information systems and business analytics at Baylor, is part of…
What should it cost a denomination to control governance of a university?
How much money should a denominational body have to give to a university in return for the ability to control that university’s governance? Turns out, not much in many cases. As state, regional and national denominational bodies have faced declining…
‘Cultural humility’ fosters a lifelong self-examination of racism
The work of identifying racist attitudes and behaviors is not only uncomfortable, but also never-ending, said Kerri Fisher, a lecturer and diversity educator at Baylor University. Recognizing white privilege and oppressive social systems isn’t enough to sustain “cultural humility,” said…
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…
The church has a role to play in implementing COVID vaccine
With a vaccine for COVID-19 presumably coming sooner than later, the question of who will and who won’t choose to get the vaccine is looming large. And along with that are questions about the role of the church on matters…
Cynical hostility linked to greater risk of cardiovascular disease
Heart health has something to do with attitude, according to a new Baylor University study on stress and cardiovascular disease. The most deadly attitude is “cynical hostility,” according to the study, which was published in the journal Psychophysiology. That carrying a hostile…
‘Freedom songs’ make a reprise during this year of protests
The wave of high-profile police killings of Black Americans during the summer got a lot of people protesting across the country — and it got them singing in the process. “The act of singing, in and of itself, is an…
Study asks how art influences faith
Two Baylor University scholars and a third at Fuller Theological Seminary are setting out to determine the relationship between two difficult, if not impossible, things to measure: art and faith. The researchers want to determine how encountering art creates discernable…