President Donald Trump pledged to broaden access to in vitro fertilization, but groups that oppose abortion have halted efforts to expand IVF access for military members while promoting anti-IVF bills in the states. “It is the policy of my administration…
Johnny Hunt will appeal his defamation case being dismissed
Johnny Hunt isn’t done with the Southern Baptist Convention. The former convention president, megachurch pastor and denominational executive is appealing recent court decisions that found his defamation claims lacking. Hunt filed suit in March 2023, alleging former SBC President Bart Barber and…
Reconsidering dissent amid the ‘conservative resurgence’
Dissent is in my bones. I grew up in a First Baptist Church in Northeastern Oklahoma, known for rowdy business meetings. It was common for news of those meetings to spread through the community before closing prayer. Keep in mind,…
Judge tosses Johnny Hunt’s case against SBC
Johnny Hunt’s defamation case against the Southern Baptist Convention and its Executive Committee is dead, with a federal judge throwing out the remainder of the case Aug. 12. Hunt, a former SBC president and former executive vice president of the…
SC church sued for allowing registered sex offender access to children
A Southern Baptist church and school in South Carolina provided a known sex offender unrestrained access to children for several years and silenced a teacher who raised concerns about the situation, according to a federal lawsuit filed Aug. 4. The…
Confidence doesn’t equal competence
As our nation gears up for midterm elections, I am reminded of two important truths: Confidence and charisma do not equal competence Likability does not equal accuracy or integrity Consider the case of Graham Platner. Platner, an outside Democrat picked…
Lindsey Graham spoke at Baptist church a week before his death
One of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s final public appearances was at a Baptist church in his home state of South Carolina. On Saturday, July 4, Graham appeared at First Baptist Church of Columbia, S.C.., for the Southern Baptist congregation’s “Carolina…
What Willy Rice once knew
Newly elected Southern Baptist Convention President Willy Rice has characterized the SBC’s clergy sex abuse crisis as a “hoax” and a “snipe hunt.” Talk like that helped get Rice elected. Apparently, it was the message many Southern Baptists wanted to…
The transmogrification of the SBC: When Baptists no longer are Baptist
As the Southern Baptist Convention in its recent annual meeting has proved itself unreliably Baptist, it gives me pause to think about how quickly the transmogrification of this Baptist denomination into its ecclesiastical opposite has happened. Baptist folk often have…
SBC says it’s not possible to be gay or transgender and Christian
It is not possible to be a “gay Christian” or a “transgender Christian,” the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission says. In a new social media reel posted by the ERLC, that question is answered by RaShan Frost,…
Like SBC, Episcopal Church hopes to sell its headquarters building
The Southern Baptist Convention isn’t the only national denomination attempting to sell its headquarters building amid changing dynamics. The Episcopal Church announced June 17 that its 12-story Church Center building in New York City is on the market. Two years…
Pilate asked Jesus, ‘What is truth?’
At this year’s meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, Al Mohler introduced an amendment to the convention’s constitution. His intent was to clarify, in the most specific terms possible, that only men may speak for God. Mohler couched his rationale…