Promoting diversity in American culture and democracy is like hosting a potluck gathering, author and interfaith activist Eboo Patel said. “Maybe there’s something about a potluck that just brings out the best in pluralism,” Patel, founder and president of Interfaith…
Religion Notes: Melissa Rogers returns to WF Divinity; BWA protests arrest of Baptist leader
The Wake Forest University School of Divinity has welcomed former Obama Administration official Melissa Rogers back to its faculty. Her hiring was announced Jan. 30 on the Divinity School web site. Rogers rejoins the institution as a visiting professor and…
Learning from faith’s circumference
By Doyle Sager My acting experience is pretty limited. Besides a couple of high school plays, my only claim to fame is the role of a wise man during Maple Grove Baptist Church’s Christmas pageant (and I’m not sure I…
World religions, up close and personal
By Doyle Sager Remember when studies of world religions were abstract and theoretical? No more. The world has come to us. And it is messier than we imagined. While seminary courses and numerous websites are helpful in providing academic knowledge,…
Gandhi and the Baptist preacher
By Doyle Sager While attending the Baptist World Congress in Durban, South Africa, this summer, some friends and I took advantage of our free afternoon and enlisted a guide for a tour of some local history. Two surprises greeted me….
Contrary consciences
By Bill Leonard Some things never change, even as the times “get out of hand.” In the 1640s, Puritans Roger Williams and John Cotton engaged in a “tractarian debate,” fit for tomorrow’s “Morning Joe,” over politics, culture and of course…
Millennials and evangelism: An attempt at dialogue
By Aileen Lawrimore “Well,” the teen said after thinking only for a moment, “I’d like to talk about evangelism.” I was with a group of young people — ages 19-35 — and I had asked what issues of faith they’d…
Study says Baptists losing their market share
By Bob Allen For every American who joins a Baptist church, two others who were raised Baptist are leaving the denomination, according to a Pew Center Report released May 12. The report, America’s Changing Religious Landscape, found nearly one in five (19.2…
Crisis or opportunity in a world where the Mayberrys have disappeared
By Arville Earl In 1883, Emma Lazarus penned the words to the poem, The New Colossus, to be used in commemoration of and as a fundraising initiative for the pedestal on which would stand the Statue of Liberty. Some of…