It has been a humiliating week for Southern Baptists. Earlier this week, as a Clemons Fellow with Baptist News Global, I reported on the release of a memorandum authored by a sexual abuse survivor that details stunning and sweeping allegations…
One year after Jan. 6, some things are worth dividing over
In his classic work Why I Am a Christian, the late Anglican theologian John Stott prophetically penned gloomy words that, at the time, mostly fell on deaf ears. “The technocratic society, which diminishes and even destroys transcendence and significance,” Stott…
Bumgardner named spring Clemons Fellow for BNG
David Bumgardner of Fort Worth, Texas, has been named a Clemons Fellow with Baptist News Global for the spring semester 2022. He already is well-known to regular BNG readers as an opinion writer, having authored one of the most-read opinion…
If pickles had souls, would the SBC Executive Committee still ignore the will of SBC messengers?
On Tuesday, Sept. 21, the single greatest threat to the future of the Southern Baptist Convention since the controversy of the Conservative Resurgence was revealed. It was not revealed to be a liberal drift, inerrancy versus non-inerrancy, women preachers, the…
When your religion goes against my religion
On Sept. 2, Religion News Service published an opinion piece by Rabbi Danny Horwitz titled “Texas’ abortion ban is against my religion. As a rabbi, I will defy it if necessary.” The article certainly impressed me with its provocative title….
Letter to the Editor: Strong words for Piper, yes, but necessary
Letter to the Editor August 18, 2021 Dear Editor: I am writing today both to thank you for the honor of having my latest opinion piece published and offer a brief and cordial reply to Jesse Walsh. First, I am…
Letter to the editor: You not only paid the Piper but shot him for good measure
Letter to the Editor August 18, 2021 Dear Editor: This evening I read It’s Time to Pay the Piper, by David Bumgardner and found myself troubled by the way in which these critiques were delivered. Whether I agree or disagree with the…
It’s time to pay the Piper
On a crisp November night in 2016, I stumbled upon a message from John Piper that changed my theological and ministerial trajectory forever. I was an eager high school senior with a passion for (what I perceived to be at…
Beware the Anti-Anti-Racist Evangelical Complex
Since publication of their new book addressing a Christian view on reparations for descendants of formerly enslaved Americans, Gregory Thompson and Duke Kwon have been met with harsh criticism by the “Anti-Anti-Racist Evangelical Complex.” That’s the best name I can…