Civil rights and separation of church and state groups are thrilled, but conservative evangelicals are dismayed that the Biden administration announced Nov. 18 the reversal of a Trump-era policy that allowed discrimination against foster parents because of their sexual orientation….
Thoughts on Jesse Jackson’s 80th birthday
For two years, we have been living through the age of COVID-19 which, as we all know, has spread through numerous and ongoing waves across the world. Vaccinations have made a difference. But from time to time, COVID-19 infects individuals…
Three reasons 2021 looks like 1961 in voter suppression
John Lewis spent his 21st birthday in a Nashville jail, Feb. 21, 1961. Lewis was arrested with 25 others after leading a public demonstration to gain admission to a whites-only movie theater. Several protesters, Lewis included, were students at American…
The untold story of Black women leaders in the Civil Rights Movement
It seems that African American men who worked tirelessly to reverse the status of “the invisible man” (a term coined by Ralph Ellison) have found ways to keep women as invisible as possible in the leadership ranks of the church….
Holy Week 2021: Justice, gospel and cups of cold water
On Good Friday, April 12, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested in Birmingham, Ala., for leading an “unlawful” protest in the city. That same day, a group of eight clergymen including five bishops (Catholic, Episcopal, Methodist), a Presbyterian, a…
Voting rights and the people who died for them: Jonathan Daniels et al.
A March 11 article in the Washington Post began with these two paragraphs: “The GOP’s national push to enact hundreds of new election restrictions could strain every available method of voting for tens of millions of Americans, potentially amounting to…
‘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…
Learning late about my hometown: Selma, Alabama
I was born in Selma, Ala., in November 1962. I lived in a little ranch house on Dixie Drive, three miles from the Pettus Bridge. The only memories I have of Selma were the stories told by my parents, who shared…
CBF leader says Christians cannot be silent about racial injustice
Christians cannot remain silent about racial injustice, the leader of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship declared June 25.