By Bob Allen An American Baptist leader says one tragedy of the Trayvon Martin shooting is that racial profiling is nothing new for African-American boys and even men. Aidsand Wright-Riggins Wearing a hoodie in support of the 17-year-old Florida youth…
Attracting a new generation of leaders in ministry
By Lydia Hoyle When I was growing up, Christian ministers were widely held in high esteem. Although a few Elmer Gantrys may have been in the mix, churches and communities generally received their ministers with respect and honor. As a…
The rise of church discipline
By Bill Wilson Have you noticed our tendency to try and control others with rules? We started with Ten Commandments. That led to Jewish scholars noting that the Torah actually contains 613 commandments, which can be divided into 365 “negative…
An ancient story; still true in 2012
By Marv Knox Our Bible study class has been reading from the Old Testament prophet Amos in the weeks leading up to Easter. This is the season the church calls Lent, a period of preparation for commemorating Jesus’ death, burial…
Handling violence in ‘The Hunger Games,’ and the Bible
By J. Muckenfuss News is still buzzing with talk of The Hunger Gamesand its spectacular opening weekend. With three kids in my house who have read the book, we too were anticipating the opening. I took one of my girls…
Absorbing the violence
By Bill Leonard “We absorb so much violence and insecurity everyday that we are like time bombs ready to explode. We need to find a cure for our illness.” That quotation, taken from the book Living Buddha, Living Christ and…
White churches on sidelines of Trayvon Martin outrage
By Jeff Brumley The killing of Trayvon Martin has sparked rallies in black communities nationwide and is now leading to questions about why white Christians aren’t more visibly involved. Pastors of both races offer a number of theories about the…
Messy narratives
By Alan Bean The Trayvon Martin case is following a predictable trajectory. Calls for the arrest of George Zimmerman centered on the self-appointed neighborhood watch captain’s unprovoked vigilante pursuit of an unarmed citizen. Now comes the inevitable backlash as the…
Trayvon and Troy
By Zachary Bailes In the past week people gathered to hold vigils, protests and to speak out for the one who can no longer speak: Trayvon Martin. We find ourselves caught in a whirlwind of understandable fury and anger over…