John Lewis has been called the moral conscience of the United States Congress. His death in July 2020 was a great loss to all of us. I mourn his death, but I call on his dream, his spirit, for our…
Franklin Graham plans Easter Sunday broadcast from Jerusalem
Franklin Graham, one of the foremost allies of Israel among American evangelicals, will broadcast a special Easter message from Jerusalem March 31. He will be joined by Christian music artist Michael W. Smith. As Israeli Defense Forces have killed 31,000…
Loneliness and tyranny
“What prepares men for totalitarian domination … is the fact that loneliness … has become an everyday experience of the ever-growing masses,” according to Hannah Arendt in The Origins of Totalitarianism, written in 1951. Loneliness, it seems, has moved from…
On praying for peace in Jerusalem
Over the last couple of weeks, my heart has been heavy over the turmoil erupting in Gaza between Palestinian and Israeli forces. As missiles and bombs dropped on buildings that serve as places of governmental power and countless lives were…
Baptist convention denounces ‘oppression and violence’ toward Palestinians
Leaders of the African-American Baptist group denounced use of the Bible to justify oppression in the Holy Land in a statement issued as the United States moved its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.
2017’s top religion stories are a doozy
The year 2017 may not have been the biggest ever for religion news in the U.S. or the world, but it has to be close.
Pilgrimage making comeback — even with Baptists and unbelievers
Baptists and many other Protestant Christians are gradually embracing ancient physical practices that nurture spiritual growth. “I have a friend, a Baptist pastor, who makes his own prayer beads and I carry prayer beads in my pocket all the time,”…
The importance of the images and metaphors Jesus didn’t use
I went back in time this past Christmas. Once again I was a child sitting on the floor working my way through a lego instruction manual building a castle. Only this time the castle wasn’t black, it was light gray…