As soon as the dust settles and Charles realizes he really is king, among the first things he should do is repudiate the moniker “Defender of the Faith.” He probably wil not, but people bearing prophetic messages don’t keep silent…
The monarchy Christians
Mark Wingfield posted a query on Facebook that deserves a deeper look. He wondered about the evangelical response to the death of Queen Elizabeth. And he asked the simple journalistic question: Why? I venture a partial response. The evangelical support…
CBF, Fellowship Southwest and BJC join in appeal to DHS to stop harassing Sikhs seeking religious asylum in U.S.
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Fellowship Southwest, Baptist Joint Committee and 160 other civil rights and faith groups are demanding American border agents be forced to stop confiscating religious items and other personal property from migrants seeking asylum in the United…
Cuban government clamps down more on religion
The Cuban government, long hostile to all forms of religious expression, is tightening down further on communities of faith in response to ongoing economic challenges exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, a religious freedom expert reported. “They must be overwhelmed by…
U.S. State Department calls out Russia, China, Afghanistan, Myanmar for extreme religious freedom abuses
Its continuing domestic crackdowns on minority religious groups and its invasion of Ukraine have solidified Russia’s status as one of the world’s leading violators of religious freedom, U.S. officials announced this month. “Following its designation as a Country of Particular…
Unanimous Supreme Court rules against Boston in Christian flag case
The City of Boston so clearly violated U.S. law on religious liberty that a normally divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously against the city May 2. Given the tense nature of debate about the meaning of religious freedom amid the…
The solution to a peaceful world is respecting other people’s religious freedom, U.S. leader says
Nadine Maenza is nearing the end of a two-year term as chair of United States Commission on International Religious Freedom and a four-year term as a commissioner. USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan government agency that monitors religious freedom worldwide and…
Threats to religious freedom and to women go hand in hand
Whenever and wherever religious freedom is threatened, so too are the fundamental rights of women and girls, a panel of experts said during a recent virtual hearing before the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. “Gender-based and religiously based discrimination…
Latest PRRI data show growing gap between white evangelicals and other Americans over same-sex marriage and legal protections for LGBTQ people
While the same-sex marriage now is the law of the land in the United States, white evangelical Christians remain distinct outliers among all Americans in accepting that reality. This finding from Public Religion Research Institute comes amid a backdrop in…
BNG webinar offers conversation on Ukraine, Eastern Europe and religious freedom
Two experts on international religious freedom will be featured in a Baptist News Global webinar Thursday, March 3, at 3 p.m. Eastern time. The speakers are Wade Kusack, founder and president of Love Your Neighbor Community, a nonprofit that promotes…
Supreme Court to hear case of wedding website designer who won’t serve same-sex couples
First it was about wedding cakes. Now it’s about wedding websites. And the United States Supreme Court has agreed once again to wade into the troubled waters of evangelical Christian business owners refusing to serve same-sex couples. Although same-sex marriage…
Samford and Candler grad at center of Tennessee controversy over Bible history class in public schools
A middle school teacher with an undergraduate religion degree from a Baptist university and a master of divinity degree from a Methodist seminary now finds herself at the center of a controversy over alleged hate speech against Jews. Moreover, Chattanooga’s…