The recent ruckus about banning books from school libraries dredged up a vivid-yet-obscure memory from my early childhood. When I was in first grade, my father — a prototypical conservative Baptist pastor of his generation — surprised me by saying…
Faithful discomfort: Why white Americans need to be offended
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott recently announced his support for a Parent’s Bill of Rights, a new but oh-so-familiar offering from conservatives that seeks to bar librarians and teachers in public schools from offering access to facts and stories that stand…
Letter to the Editor: A response from Oklahoma Senator Rob Standridge
Letter to the Editor February 15, 2022 Dear Editor: Per your article on Feb. 7, 2022, I was smeared for filing bills trying to protect the religious freedom of religious and Christian citizens in Oklahoma. Although I did remove the religious…
The days after Groundhog Day
If you are like me, then you are still cleaning up candle wax and eating leftover crepes. People who are not as educated as the readers of Baptist News Global may not completely appreciate Groundhog Day, which began — and…
That time I went to the school board meeting to speak against banning books
This week, I found someone who has it rougher than pastors in handling dissent generated from right-wing conspiracy theories and fear of the LGBTQ community: Public school administrators. I had no idea how bad this is, and yet I should…
Mourning the end of an era at Logsdon, rummaging through my father’s books
As we rummaged through rooms of old books, I couldn’t help but mourn a bit. My dad, giving away his library. It felt like the end of an era. My dad always seems at home when surrounded by books. I…
Church curriculum publishers experience reduced sales due to COVID
The COVID-19 pandemic dealt serious setbacks to many faith-based organizations, and the publishers of Sunday school and other spiritual formation curricula are no exception. For many of them, regardless of denomination, the shuttering of church buildings and other meeting spaces…
‘OK, we live in a racist society. What do we do next?’
The videos don’t lie, and we can’t turn away from the images of George Floyd gasping for breath, from the truth of his story and so many like it. So over the past few months as demonstrators have taken to…
Anne Marie Miller’s ‘Healing Together’: Abuse disclosure reawakens ‘former’ author’s book-writing career
Written from her own experience as an abuse survivor and evidence-based research, the new book is geared to “the average person out there – the mom or dad, aunt or niece, teammate or roommate, the butcher or baker or candlestick maker – who wants to support a loved one who has survived sexual abuse,”