Minneha Core Knowledge Magnet Elementary School in Wichita, KS is the center of an uproar last week after a photo taken on the first day of school showing a large “5 Pillars of Islam” display was shared online. The Wichita…
Zimmerman case law: a ruler or a mirror?
Twenty years ago this fall, I began my studies at Duke University School of Law. Amid the required first-year classes on Civil Procedure, Contracts, Criminal Law, and Legal Research and Writing was a typical seeming class on Torts, taught by…
A pastor’s Independence Day prayer
God of all grace and mercy, as we celebrate our nation’s Independence Day, we are grateful for our heritage and concerned for our future. We are thankful, Lord. We are grateful for the privilege of living in “the land of…
Why the DOMA decision is a win for religious liberty
No doubt you’ve heard by now that the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) on Wednesday on the basis that it is “a deprivation of the equal liberty of persons that is protected by the Fifth…
To discern God in the world
As social media exploded with the news of the SCOTUS’ decision, I wondered how this decision would impact the national Cooperative Baptist Fellowship conference. Would the agenda change? Would speakers change their prepared manuscripts or would those conversations be saved for…
Getting straight about that serpent-dove thing
Most readers of this blog would identify as moderate Baptists who view their more ideological brothers and sisters as well-intentioned, but misguided, extremists. Moderates are sensible mediators between extremes who eschew both conservative and liberal forms of group-think, political correctness,…
Protesting in North Carolina: Moral Monday Reflections
Recent events in North Carolina are putting our Baptist convictions to the test. In remembering the most, North Carolina’s lawmakers have forgotten the least. School children are hungry. Access to affordable healthcare will soon be even more difficult to procure. …
Learning to love a thermostat God
By Alan Bean “Is organized religion too inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world?” This question was originally scrawled in the margin of an Alabama newspaper by an exasperated Martin Luther King Jr. The…
The fence through Friendship Park
A fence runs through Friendship Park at the western end of the U.S. border with Mexico. A 20-foot tall steel structure begun in late 2011 and completed in early 2012, it begins at the very spot where (without barriers) it…