By Jeff Brumley It’s been known for years that American conservative Protestants divorce at the same or higher rates than either more moderate Christians or those of no religious affiliation at all. But a Baylor University professor said sociologists are…
Baylor profs to study nature, value of faith
By Jeff Brumley Philosophy scholars at Baylor University have received a $1.5 million grant to investigate religious beliefs in order to “shed new light on faith,” according to a news release about the three-year study. The gift from the Templeton…
Atrocious saints
“A democratic autocrat. An urbane savage. An atrocious saint.” That’s how biographer James Patton described Andrew Jackson, seventh president of the United States of America. In seeking to write the first scholarly biography of the native Tennessean, Parton felt like…
#popecrush
No one has risen to fame and garnered more respect, attention, hatred, followership and love than Pope Francis (with the possible exception of Lady Gaga). He’s been on the cover of Time Magazine and Rolling Stone. He’s re-authoring the public’s…
I’m a Christian minister
“Well it was nice to meet you, but I’ve go to go. Maybe I’ll see you around.” That’s what he said after we’d been talking for almost 15 minutes. Who knows, we could’ve become pretty good friends, but he had…
Birthday offerings
What is your earliest memory of giving or receiving? That was the first of a set of prompts given to a small discussion group this week at a class I attended on religious fundraising. My mind immediately pictured a small…
Learning from experience
According to the story, a young person asked an older, wiser person, “How do I avoid mistakes?” The mentor said, “Get experience.” The young person rejoined, “Then how do I get experience?” The reply: “Make mistakes.” Of course, this assumes…
Does God promise you a spouse?
As couples begin to plan for summer weddings, I’m starting to receive “save the date” reminders. I received one and started thinking back to my youth. I grew up going to southern Baptist youth camps where preachers would proclaim that God…
Finding our way home
Two seemingly unrelated stories recently captured my attention. One came my way while on an afternoon date with my wife. The other arrived the same night, as I sat down and read a book written by a long-term friend. By…