“Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule. … So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created…
‘Unlearn the lies about women,’ BWIM preacher urges
The Christian church must unlearn some lies to see women as called by God to ministry, according to Barbara Lavarin, who addressed Baptist Women in Ministry Nov. 6. Lavarin, director of supporting women in ministry for BWIM, preached the opening…
Praying with our eyes open
I recently gave a tour of Plymouth Church in Brooklyn to a high school youth choir from Georgia. I ask, “What do Southerners think the South is better at than New York?” They give the answers we would expect. “The…
Religious attacks on science
The current MAGA evangelical attacks on science threaten to make America less safe, less healthy and much dumber. This anti-science compulsion is no surprise. Evangelical Christianity in the United States has rejected science at least since Charles Darwin. There is…
John MacArthur met his own definition of a false prophet
How should we respond when someone who uses theology to promote ignorant, misogynistic, racist, power mongering authoritarianism dies? To use biblical language, we might call these people false prophets, ravenous wolves, deceivers, anti-Christs, evil men, seducers, lovers of self, foolish…
Scopes at 100: The lasting legacy of the trial over human origins
Tensions between religion and science erupted in a hot and humid courtroom in Dayton, Tenn., 100 years ago this month. Fundamentalist celebrity William Jennings Bryan squared off against agnostic attorney Clarence Darrow in the trial of high school teacher John…
Creation care entities announce strategic partnership
The board of directors of C3 (Christians Caring for Creation) and the Baptist Creation Care Initiative have signed a memorandum of understanding formalizing a strategic partnership beginning June 1. Both organizations will share access to their full range of digital…
A century after Hubble’s discovery, our neighbor galaxies suggest a creator’s mind
When you look into the night sky, the naked eye can only make out 2,500 to 3,000 stars, five planets and maybe one to three galaxies, and that’s assuming ideal atmospheric conditions and the right location. That has been enough…
Falling again
Today, I just sit. Taking a pregnant pause from the constant demands of life on this early October afternoon, I find myself sitting on a simple wooden bench in the woods outside an abbey in southern Missouri. I am taking…
Reading the Bible without a leaf of hierarchy
Sunday before last in worship, we read from Genesis 3:8, a passage that says in the NRSV English translation: “They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and…
Comedy or tragedy? The stories we tell ourselves about creation
“Wicked looks at what happened in the land of Oz — but from a different angle,” the most popular show on Broadway advertises. “So much happened before Dorothy dropped in.” As we shuffled out of the theater at the end of…
Why this seminary professor’s view of MrBeast and his friend is deadly and dangerous
I’m trying to like Southwestern Seminary these days, but Daniel Darling just made it that much harder. The Fort Worth, Texas, seminary is promoting a piece Darling wrote for the conservative World magazine. Darling serves as director of the Land…