Here’s a no-brainer trend: blogs, Twitter and Facebook pronouncements by public religious leaders going viral with all kinds of unintended negative consequences. Besides making me shake my bald head, it raises the question of what the “best practices” trend will…
OPINION: What now?
The news has finally broken. The most anticipated Supreme Court decisions in a long time were finally released last week. A sharply divided court has ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional as far as its implications for…
OPINION: Piggies matter: A perspective on Baptist meetings
Within the short span of eight days, I attended the General Assembly of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship as well as the biennial meeting of the American Baptist Churches USA. Somewhere in the midst of meetings and reunions and worship services,…
REFLECTIONS FROM NEW YORK: Prayers for all peoples
Imagine you’ve invited your Jewish neighbors over to your house for dinner. Immediately after serving your guests, you question whether or not you should offer a prayer. You think to yourself that both Christians and Jews believe in God, so…
REVIEW: In ‘World War Z,’ humanity is on its own
Zombies are hot. They are the new “in” storytelling device. World War Z, loosely based on Max Brooks’s novel of the same name, is the latest to make use of the walking dead as a metaphor. The story focuses on…
REFLECTIONS FROM NEW YORK: Christian partnership
Understanding the nature of relationships between Christian organizations and one another as well as with non-Christian organizations can often be a difficult task. This is particularly true within the Baptist context, in which each church can function independently from the…
REVIEW: Violence undercuts messianic overtones in “Man of Steel”
One of my greatest problems with the way that films are marketed is when a movie gets the “Christian” label. When a movie gets that tag attached, it just turns me off. My reason is simple: I think movies are…
OPINION: A puzzling decision with difficult implications
It has been about three weeks now since the national leaders of the Boy Scouts made the somewhat unexpected decision to reverse a longstanding policy and allow openly-gay scouts to participate in the organization. In the wake of the Southern…
LEADERSHIP LINK: Church governing documents: Are they necessary?
Baptists have always placed a high priority on starting new churches. As the new churches come into being, one of the questions they face is what kind of governing documents they need. In Baptist circles, four kinds of governing documents…
OPINION: The Artist’s gallery
It was a rainy summer afternoon in Atlanta. I was about 20 years old. I had taken the MARTA train from Lenox where I had just finished a shift selling clothes at J. Crew and was certainly dressed the part. …
OPINION: Embrace the sand
I’ve got this little problem that I think I hide well most of the time. I’ve crafted my Jungian mask and public persona to come across as fairly laid-back, cool and collected. At least that’s what I tell myself I’ve…
LETTER: Tea Party parallel is at best a stretch
Your attempt to draw a parallel between SBC fundamentalists and those that might be in the Republican Party is at best a stretch [“Will fundamentalism be with us forever?”]. However, your intention is clear: You are now blatantly political. You…