This week, Common Dreams reported on the federal budget outline approved with a party-line vote in the House of Representatives, noting: Republican hardliners are also reportedly pursuing changes that could force states to end their Medicaid expansions, which would strip coverage from…
The church is what we do next
Toward the end of the movie Conclave, members of the College of Cardinals regroup following a series of bomb explosions that have rocked the Vatican. After a seasoned cardinal demands militant action against Muslims, a younger Cardinal speaks: No, my…
‘Not of this world’: Jesus, Caesar and Holy Week
In Luke’s Gospel, the Jesus story begins with these words: “And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.” The Gospel of John describes a…
What will your church do, if …
On Dec. 1, 1955, a Black woman named Rosa Parks, sitting in the “no man’s land” of a Montgomery, Ala., bus, declined to relinquish her seat to a white rider as required by law. The refusal led to her arrest…
Lent 2025: Not a moment too soon
The Ash Wednesday liturgy in The Book of Common Prayer includes this reading: Dear People of God: The first Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord’s passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church…
‘Neither right nor safe’: The Gulf of Conscience
On April 18, 1521, an Augustinian monk named Martin Luther stood before Charles V, king of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, and his court comprised of representatives from the nations of Europe. Luther was required to respond to two questions:…
Presidents, pardons, prevarications and (women) preachers
On Jan. 20, the newly inaugurated 47th president of the United States of America issued a presidential pardon to about 1,600 individuals who, on January 6, 2021, illegally broke into the U.S. Capitol, mercilessly beat Capitol police, threatened Congress members…
‘He’s gone, but he ain’t gone far’
President Jimmy Carter died Dec. 29, 2024, at the age of 100. For the American nation, his death could not have come at a more teachable moment given that the proceedings of his state funeral occurred barely two weeks before…
It’s 2025: Where’s our witness?
We were out visiting for the church, the Deacon and I, two Baptists prepared to “win the lost for Christ” on a steamy summer Sunday afternoon in Fort Worth. The Deacon was a committed soul winner, and I was a…
Teaching, learning and listening: A 50-year legacy
Fifty years ago, on Dec. 17, 1974, I had my initial interview at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. With one semester to go toward completing the Ph.D. program at Boston University School of Theology, I mailed my resume…
Sunday schools in public schools?
I grew up going to Sunday school, starting with the “Cradle Roll” department of First Baptist Church of Decatur, Texas, the town where I was born. Like all the kids at that church, when I learned to read, I was…
Are we still of any use?
“And so it begins.” As nominations for leadership of government agencies are announced by the newly elected American president, the words of Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, written around Christmas 1942, seem startlingly relevant: We have been silent witnesses of evil…