This week I was one among the millions who watched A&E’s powerful and devastating “re-imagination” of the epic miniseries Roots, brought to the small screen for a new audience against the not-so-new backdrop of this, the latest iteration of the…
As racial healing seems elusive, New Baptist Covenant plans next summit
Former President Jimmy Carter, who has long put religion and racial reconciliation at the center of his life, is on a mission to heal a racial divide among Baptists and help the country soothe rifts that he believes are getting…
Why #BlackLivesMatter vandalism matters
In the last couple of months, the Black Lives Matter sign that hangs from a post on the front lawn of our church has been vandalized several times. Sometimes the metal sign has been severely bent. Other times, someone has…
Jimmy Carter, seeing resurgence of racism, plans Baptist conference for unitybng
Former President Carter, who has long put religion and racial reconciliation at the center of his life, aims to heal a racial divide among Baptists and help the country soothe rifts he believes are getting worse.
Bridging the gap between the heart and systemic injustice
If you could ask a fish, “How’s the water?”, the fish would probably respond by saying, “What in the world is water?” That was the observation of David Foster Wallace in a commencement speech at Kenyon College used to illustrate…
SBC leader to convene national conversation on race
Southern Baptist Convention President Ronnie Floyd will convene A National Conversation on Racial Unity at the group’s annual meeting next month in St. Louis, the pastor of Cross Church in Northwest Arkansas announced in a blog May 2. Floyd said…
When Christians won’t say #BlackLivesMatter
Saying #BlackLivesMatter does not diminish the value of other lives. It acknowledges the ways in which this country has devalued the life of a black person in comparison to the life of another, typically white, person.
That’s not your seat: Regulating the seating arrangements at God’s dinner party
“That’s not your seat” is a phrase used by Morgan DePerno, a student in my church history class, as the title for her recent review of Martin Luther King Jr’s Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story. For Morgan, “that’s not…
Pastor wants SBC to repudiate Confederate flag
An African-American pastor is asking the Southern Baptist Convention to adopt a resolution calling for elimination of public display of the Confederate flag. Dwight McKissic, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, recently submitted a resolution for possible consideration…