By Darrell Gwaltney Following the last presidential debate and referring to President Obama, conservative commenter Ann Coulter tweeted: “I highly approve of Romney’s decision to be kind and gentle to the retard.” Reaction to her poor choice of words was…
Radio host: evangelicals ignoring abuse
By Bob Allen A Christian radio host says it’s time for evangelical churches to wake up to an “epidemic” of sexual abuse of children going on in their midst. “I don’t know how long evangelicalism can ignore this problem,” host…
A fundamentally unserious culture
By David Gushee Months ago I agreed to a heavy travel schedule that would take me away from the television during the climax of our endless presidential campaign. I caught glimpses of the VP debate at a diner in New…
Author offers tips on handling critics
By Bob Allen Both praised and scorned for her take on controversial topics such as Christians and evolution and gender roles for husbands and wives, author Rachel Held Evans has rapidly become an expert in dealing with criticism. “As an…
Mumford & Sons sing of grace and life
By Darrell Gwaltney I have been listening to Mumford & Sons’ new album Babel. Its deep biblical allusions and challenging lyrics about relationships and redemption invite repeated listenings. There’s enough in the album to keep my attention for a while….
Online community as missions field
By Jeff Brumley Jim Somerville pastors a Baptist congregation in Virginia that, thanks to the Internet, includes people living in Austria, India and Slovakia. And now, he learned recently, some guy in Iowa. “He said ‘I tune in online and…
CBF mobilizing teams for Isaac relief
By Jeff Brumley The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is now issuing calls for money and volunteers to help Louisiana residents impacted by Hurricane Isaac. Those calls have already been answered by debris and muck removal teams from nine CBF churches in seven…
Live, from the DNC
The eyes of the world are on Charlotte, or so we are told. The Democratic National Convention is in town to nominate President Obama as their candidate for president. Credentials have been issued for 15,000 journailsts. CNN, MSNBC, C-Span, all…
Churches lag in social media oversight
By Jeff Brumley Sheryl Fancher likes to tell social media nightmare stories that make ministers cringe. Like the one about a pastor who posted derogatory remarks about church members on his Facebook page without realizing his account was set to…