We can hang onto Jesus with the right hand, grasp our brothers and sisters with the left, and take one bold step into the gathering gloom of Holy Week. That’s what Lent has always been about. That’s what it’s about now, amid a global pestilence that stalks in the darkness.
When it comes to same-sex marriage, it’s all over but the shoutin’
I recently spent one day at the national convocation of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, which is just beginning a conversation about the hiring of non-celibate gay employees. That frustrating experience made me reflect on my own experience. I thought I…
‘Ten Commandments judge’ faces possible second ouster
Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, nicknamed the “Ten Commandments judge” for his refusal to remove a monument from the state judicial building in 2003, has been suspended and faces a possible second ouster from the bench he reclaimed in 2013….
New frontiers for LGBTQ-affirming churches
More and more congregations are undertaking intentional, prayerful processes of discernment and action toward becoming inclusive, affirming, and justice-practicing congregations for LGBTQ people (there are about 100 churches now in the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists). While many churches…
Bill termed anti-gay authored by Baptist lawmaker
The Mississippi Senate has passed what critics call the most sweeping anti-LGBT legislation in the United States, sponsored by a Baptist layman who is a trustee at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, a member and former…
Not all evangelicals afraid of dialogue, Muslims and Christians say
A new study illustrates in numbers what many already know intuitively: evangelicals aren’t big on dialoguing with anyone but themselves. “Evangelicals seem to have a particularly difficult time talking to those outside their group,” the Barna Group reported in a March…
Georgia’s Baptist governor opposes ‘religious liberty’ bill
Showing his Baptist stripes, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal made his strongest statements to date against controversial “religious liberty” legislation that critics say mask a hidden agenda of discrimination against gays and lesbians. Deal, a graduate of Mercer University and member…
Washington florist gets another day in court
The Supreme Court in Washington state has agreed to hear the case of a Southern Baptist florist sued for refusing to do custom floral arrangements for a same-sex wedding. Barronelle Stutzman, owner of Arlene’s Flowers in Richland, Wash., is asking the…
Embrace ‘extremist’ Christianity to counter hate, ministers say
Joe Phelps admits he is a Christian extremist. For years, he’s being spreading his brand of faith all over Louisville, Ky., where he’s the pastor of Highlands Baptist Church. And now he admits he’d like to see it catch on…