Three educators have filed suit against Florida over a 2023 law permitting the decertification and termination of nonbinary and transgender teachers who use preferred pronouns and titles in the performance of their jobs. The Southern Poverty Law Center and its…
Hope and the pope: Defending LGBTQ people more than our positions
With the pope all over the headlines recently, I decided to do my homework and see what all the buzz was about. I came away fascinated and with renewed hope. Since being elected in 2013, Pope Francis has advanced respect…
At holidays, LGBTQ youth homelessness spikes
The holidays may be winding down, but for some LGBTQ youth, year-end celebrations mark the beginning of a very different season: experiencing homelessness. According to Marian Edmonds-Allen, executive director of Parity NYC, a faith-based organization focused on healing divisions between…
Rick Warren’s letter to the SBC was BNG’s most-read opinion piece in 2023
Rick Warren’s personal appeal to Southern Baptists about his battle with the Southern Baptist Convention over church autonomy and women in ministry was the most-read Baptist News Global opinion piece in 2023. The issue of patriarchy and women’s roles in…
Vatican’s new stance on blessing same-sex couples draws praise and ire
This week’s bombshell announcement from the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith that Catholic priests may now use their discretion to bless individuals in same-sex relationships and others in “irregular situations” has sparked intense debate and varied reactions…
Vatican declaration approved by Pope Francis allows priests to bless same-sex couples, but not marriages
Less than a week before Christmas, the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith released a theological declaration approved by the pope allowing Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples. The document, titled Fiducia supplicans, outlines “the pastoral meaning of…
Ronald Reagan, the Strict Father and American conservatism
My reading life has provided me with a web of networks with authors I never have met except on the pages of their books. Lacking any other acceptable descriptor, I refer to these writers as “my friends.” My “friend” George…
What you’re really giving to when you respond to a ‘Bible shortage’ in prisons
’Tis the season for giving — and making year-end contributions to charity. No doubt your mailbox and inbox are inundated with requests for donations this time of year. One such appeal from Prison Fellowship Ministries alerts recipients that Bibles are…
Are we still calling him the ‘Good’ Samaritan?
We have known the Parable of the Good Samaritan most of our lives. Yet that phrase is not Scripture. Editors of our Bible translations inserted it at the top of the parable as a helpful aid to our study. So,…