“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…
Civil rights panel blasts new state religious liberty laws
The U.S. Civil Rights Commission has denounced new state “religious liberty” laws backed by Southern Baptist state conventions as a trend to use religion as an excuse to deny people their human rights. The independent, bipartisan agency charged with advising…
When religious liberty demands cease to be legitimate
I think most Americans, even non-religious Americans, are on board with the idea of religious liberty — in the abstract. But like so many of the things we hold dear, what sounds great in theory becomes deeply complicated when the…
Baptist says ‘religious liberty’ bill threatens … well, religious liberty
A Missouri religious liberty bill passed last month by the state Senate after a 39-hour filibuster once again kept lawmakers up late at night, when a five hour debate April 13 in the Missouri House of Representatives ended after midnight…
Social conservatives try new tack with state-level efforts on religious freedom
Pivoting from setbacks on the national stage, they take a more targeted approach to religious and individual privacy rights.
The religion of the New Lost Cause
At Maundy Thursday worship in Wake Forest University’s Davis Chapel, the day after Gov. Pat McCrory signed NC House Bill 2, a transgender divinity school student washed the feet of an African Pentecostal student as the Gospel text from John…
The flaws in ‘religious liberty’ laws
As the prevailing culture turns further away from their beliefs and comfort zones, some Baptists and other conservative Christians are tempted to exert the last vestiges of their middle-class majoritarian power to pass “religious liberty” laws that protect their privilege.
Pastors urge veto of Mississippi ‘religious liberty’ law
Update: Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed the “religious liberty” bill into law on April 5. Three Cooperative Baptist Fellowship pastors are opposing Mississippi’s so-called “religious liberty” law, which would, among other things, allow public employees, businesses and social workers to deny…
What’s driving religious freedom debate in the U.S.? Fear, say some.
It was just about a year ago when Baptist writer and minister Corey Fields wrote a column critiquing a spate of “religious freedom” bills pushed through statehouses around the country. Indiana’s version was one of the more high-profile measures. It…
Mohler cites CBF in veto of anti-LGBT ‘religious liberty’ bill
A Southern Baptist seminary president says theology played a role in Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal’s decision to veto a measure that would have discriminated against the state’s LGBT community. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.,…
The ‘downward death spiral’ of hypocrisy
January 28, 2016 By Marv Knox / Editor Which speaks louder-words or deeds? This isn’t a benign question, particularly this week. The Iowa caucus officially kicks off the 2016 presidential primary season Feb. 1. As Americans prepare to choose a…
Christian first, American second: On prioritizing (and performing) presidential identities
By Thomas J. Whitley Back in September 2015 presidential candidate Ben Carson said that for a Muslim to be president “you have to reject the tenets of Islam.”