You must have a sense of humor to talk about being Baptist these days, with all the craziness associated with the word and with many Baptists today who are a contradiction to what “Baptist” has meant through the centuries. If…
Letter to the Editor: Advice from Roger Williams
Letter to the Editor March 15, 2022 Dear Editor: WOW! I had never heard of Voddie Baucham until I read about him this past week on BNG. This guy is nothing more than a sociopath. He needs to stay where…
On Roger Williams, freedom of conscience and its (sometimes well-intentioned) enemies
I don’t like being told what to do, think or say. You got a problem with that? I know that sounds excessively pugnacious and not very Christian, considering the ugly divisions and hatreds roiling Americans in recent years. But I…
Critical Race Theory, voter suppression and historical negation: The irony of it all
In his Key into the Language of America (1643), the earliest Native American/English grammar, Roger Williams, that colonial disquieter of the religio-political peace, described his experiences with the Narragansets and other Northeastern native tribes: They were hospitable to everybody, whomsoever…
Churches: Take the PPP money and walk
I think a decision not to participate in the PPP program would be a mistake. If your church does take the money, see it as an invitation to do more good in your community.
‘Conscience … more or less’: Roger Williams, Mitt Romney and the rest of us
Mitt Romney’s act of conscience compelled the President, the Senate and the rest of us to confront faith and conscience, religious liberty and dissent, at this moment in our nation’s troubled, divided history.
‘Black sheep Baptist’ explores inspiration, path to newfound spiritual identity
Justin Cox is a first-year student at Wake Forest University School of Divinity, a Cooperative Baptist Leadership Scholar, and minister to students at First Baptist Church in Statesville, N.C. Not bad for a guy who’s only been Baptist for just…
Car damages America’s first Baptist church
The nation’s oldest Baptist church sustained damage when an out-of-control automobile came onto church property and crashed into a set of brownstone steps that had been in place for more than 300 years. A car descending a steep hill behind…
Protesting injustice is the modern Baptist’s evangelism, activists say
Like many who grew up Southern Baptist, Betsy Sowers fervently believes evangelism is the answer to the most pressing issues of the day. “I am very Baptist about that,” the Massachusetts resident said. But Sowers doesn’t define evangelism only as talking to…