Last week, two Baptist colleges in Texas jumped into the debate over women’s health. Baptist News Global reported that East Texas Baptist University and Houston Baptist University objected to “providing — directly or indirectly — emergency contraceptive drugs they believe cause…
More alike than different
Two contrasting stories from June 2015 are etched into my mind—one upliftingly positive and the other hauntingly negative. My reflection on the two experiences confirmed for me we are more alike than we are different. I officiated a meaningful wedding…
Forgiveness breaks the Devil’s back
Fresh from wrestling with the Devil through forty days and forty nights, Jesus shows up in his home church of Nazareth and uses the ancient words of the prophet Isaiah to lay down his manifesto: The Spirit of the Lord…
Following up: Further Reflections on Al Mohler, Racism, Inerrancy, and Theological Education
What I saw as a weakness in Mohler’s reflection was that while he acknowledged the racism of Boyce, and admitted that Southern Baptists “bear a particular responsibility” to combat racism, his arguments around “orthodoxy” and “heresy” were abstracted from real…
Freedom from Racism Sunday letter
July 1, 2015 Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, We are deeply disturbed by the recent rash of yet to be explained fires at African American churches in the Southeastern part of our country. In the past two weeks, there…
Racism and religious persecution: Who’s burning black churches?
Guest commentary by Denise Anderson On June 17, 2015, nine people were shot and killed at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, by a white supremacist. Since then six predominantly black churches across the South have gone up in…
I beg to differ
My colleague in the Baptist ministry, Greg Faulls, has written an article about Christian life in the aftermath of the ruling on same-sex marriage.It mirrors so many others from the evangelical camp, articulating disappointment, angst, awareness of new cultural realities,…
The Confederate flag honors a bad memory
I am a proud Southerner. That is why you will never see me display the Confederate flag. Now, I do not pretend to have plumbed the depths of the debate over the flag, but I do believe that symbols hold…
Inerrancy, racism and theological education: Responding to Al Mohler
Note: Portions of this reflection are based on a paper I wrote about inerrancy, slavery, and Reformed heritage in the United States for an independent study. I read Al Mohler’s article “The Heresy of Racial Superiority – Confronting the Past,…
Maintain legacy of racism busting, American Baptists told
By Bob Allen As the nation’s most racially diverse Protestant denomination, American Baptists must take the lead in eradicating racism and violence such as the June 17 hate crime that took nine lives at a historic African-American church in Charleston,…
It’s time to talk
It’s time for a conversation. Not more talk, but a conversation. There is a massive gap between these two related items. “Talk” is plentiful and abundant. It is the stuff of comment sections and social media and message boards. It…
Black, white pastors unite in ‘war’ on fear, racism
By Bob Allen A century-and-a-half after the United States fought a civil war over slavery, two black and two white Baptist pastors in Kentucky say it is time for another war against “fear and racism.” “This war will not employ…