By Ken Camp Twenty years after a 51-day siege at the Mount Carmel compound near Waco, Texas, ended in the deaths of about 80 members of the Branch Davidian sect, the event continues to shape national debate on subjects ranging…
Is today the day war begins in East Asia?
By Leroy Seat Today might be the day war breaks out in East Asia. This is the “Day of the Sun,” the most celebrated holiday of the year in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Day of the Sun commemorates…
At home in the 17th century
By Bill Leonard Seventeenth century Baptists would have known exactly what was happening when two Rowan County state legislators recently proposed a resolution, affirmed by 11 other legislative colleagues, that declared that the United States Constitution does not “prohibit states…
Overcoming darkness
By Henry Green The complicity of the church in the Nazi policy to annihilate the Jewish race cannot be denied. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said: “The church confesses her timidity, her evasiveness, her dangerous concessions. The church has been untrue to her…
Flying Queens ruled women’s hoops
By Bob Allen With most eyes in women’s college basketball trained on Baylor’s 6-8 shot-blocking, slam-dunking phenom Brittney Griner, the current Texas Monthly carries a feature about a lesser-known Baptist General Convention of Texas-affiliated powerhouse that is the winningest women’s…
Getting marriage wrong
By Miguel De La Torre The Hebrew Bible’s interpretation of marriage was that women were akin to property, while men were biblically provided with the opportunity to have multiple sex partners. The New Testament interpretation privileged singleness, while women were…
Real American exceptionalism
How do we hold a healthy distance between our patriotic pride and our Christian witness? It is sometimes not easy. Baltimore held a weeklong Sailabration commemorating the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. Events involved tall ships, fireworks and great pride…
Francis I: What’s in a name?
By Bill Leonard Those Catholics can do drama, can’t they? Cardinals, 115 of them, all male (still), in their red and lace vestments began the conclave to elect the 266th new pope by chanting a hymn invoking the presence of the…
Woman named pastor of historic church
By Bob Allen The 222-year-old Hampton Baptist Church has called Elizabeth “Betty” Pugh Mills as senior pastor, making it likely the largest Baptist church in Virginia led by a woman pastor. The 1,100-member church (about 500 active) voted March 3…