One of the greatest Christian dissenters I’ve ever known was James M. Dunn, late chief executive of Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and founding faculty member of Wake Forest University School of Divinity. Like his dissenting Baptist forebears, James…
Reconsidering dissent amid the ‘conservative resurgence’
Dissent is in my bones. I grew up in a First Baptist Church in Northeastern Oklahoma, known for rowdy business meetings. It was common for news of those meetings to spread through the community before closing prayer. Keep in mind,…
Our legacy of dissent
Toward the end of his life, the great dissenter and short-time Baptist Roger Williams (1603-1683) reflected on the founding of Providence Plantation in the American colony of Rhode Island, writing: I desired it might be for a shelter for persons…
Dissent against injustice inflicted upon ‘the least of these,’ García warns
“Dissent against any ideology that seeks to replace Christ … with political power, nationalism, lies or fear,” outgoing Moderator Juan García urged the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship during its annual General Assembly in St. Louis June 26. “As true Baptists, we…
Improvising Grace: Reformation and dissent
Author’s note: On Oct. 22, I was privileged to preach at a convocation celebrating the 25th anniversary of the School of Divinity at Wake Forest University. I pass it along in this Reformation week. …
Dissent and resistance
In my last column, I held up as a worthy example for us all, a textile worker in a small North Carolina town — the one in the floral shirt and white scarf, who chose to follow the urging of…
The rhetorical genius of Rick Warren
I look forward to Rick Warren addressing the Southern Baptist Convention at its annual meeting in New Orleans, June 13-14. Warren deserves more credit for his decision to publicly dissent from the SBC ruling expelling the church he founded from…
Expelling dissent: America from Roger Williams to the ‘Tennessee Three’
On March 29 in the year of our Lord(?) 2023, hundreds of young people, many of junior and senior high school age, descended on the Tennessee state house in Nashville to demand government action to reduce the threat of school…
Three things white Christians can do to address white supremacy: Lament, repent, dissent
White supremacy is the erroneous belief that white people are superior to people of other races or ethnicities and should possess power and control in all areas of life. In fact, “race” was socially constructed centuries ago to ensure white…
We dissent!
The headline read, “In a 5-4 Vote the United States Supreme Court Overturns Roe v. Wade.” While I knew this decision was coming, I still felt a deep pain in my heart and anxiety swell all over my body. Perhaps…
Faith with a conscience: Martin Luther King as a model dissenter for Baptists, present and future
As we remember this month the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., we would do well to understand that King and his philosophy of direct, nonviolent action — initially shaped throughout the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955-1956 — arose from…
America 2021: ‘Illegalizing’ dissent?
In the year 1612, British Baptist/dissenter Thomas Helwys published A Short Declaration of the Mystery of Iniquity, the first English call for universal religious freedom. Addressed to King James I, it began: “Hear, O King, and despise not the counsel…