By Bill Leonard “The parents have a right to say that no teacher paid by their money shall rob their children of faith in God and send them back to their homes skeptical, or infidels, or agnostics, or atheists.” — W.J….
Jimmy Carter: Faith as verb
By Bill Leonard Jimmy Carter was president of the United States. Jimmy Carter has built Habitat for Humanity dwellings for 33 years. Jimmy Carter led the Carter Center in eradicating much of the Guinea worm plague in West Africa. Jimmy…
Civil rights groups, Baptists creating ‘incredible moment’ in U.S. politics
By Jeff Brumley The prevailing wisdom is that there is little if anything new under the sun when it comes to politics and religion. But some ministers and expert observers are challenging that notion as the nation leans into the…
Whining, dissenting and knowing the difference
By Bill Leonard Do you ever whine? Chiding turns to complaining, and morphs into whining before you know it. I feel completely qualified to talk about whining since this month marks my 40th year of teaching students in American higher…
Contrary consciences
By Bill Leonard Some things never change, even as the times “get out of hand.” In the 1640s, Puritans Roger Williams and John Cotton engaged in a “tractarian debate,” fit for tomorrow’s “Morning Joe,” over politics, culture and of course…
Sunday’s coming: Freedom from Racism
He shot them at prayer meeting. On June 17, in the year of our Lord 2015, a 21-year-old white supremacist millennial named Dylann Roof shot nine members of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., in cold blood…
Sex and religious liberty: 2015 and 1645
By Bill Leonard In 1645, Anglican clergyman Daniel Featley wrote of the “Dippers” (Baptists) rampant in England: “They preach, and print, and practice their Heretical impieties openly; they hold their Conventicles weekly in our chief Cities, and Suburbs thereof, and…
At Lent: Sin, evil and us
By Bill Leonard On Feb. 10, 2015, three Muslim students at UNC-Chapel Hill — a married couple and her sister — were shot by one of the “neighbors” in their apartment complex. The New York Times reported: “The victims’ families…
Secularism rising: How should Christians respond?
By Bill Leonard “Secularization is the historical process whereby religious faith, religious involvement, religious identification, and religious institutions weaken, fade or become less significant in society. And while secularization is in no way inevitable or irreversible … when we look…