Bobby Gilstrap seemed to model what Southern Baptists would want in a denominational leader. Educated at two Southern Baptist Convention seminaries, he served as a pastor, then served 10 years as an associational director of missions in Michigan, where he…
What the SBC should do about its most famous accused sexual abuser
Thank God, Paul Pressler has lived to the ripe old age of 93. That’s long enough to expose the Southern Baptist Convention’s most malevolent hypocrite to the shame of his reported double life. Just before the end of the year,…
Confidential settlement reached in Pressler sexual abuse case
A confidential settlement has been reached in the lawsuit accusing prominent Southern Baptist figure Paul Pressler of sexually abusing a teenage member of his Houston church multiple times beginning in 1977, the Texas Tribune reported Dec. 29. Duane Rollins filed…
Rick Warren’s letter to the SBC was BNG’s most-read opinion piece in 2023
Rick Warren’s personal appeal to Southern Baptists about his battle with the Southern Baptist Convention over church autonomy and women in ministry was the most-read Baptist News Global opinion piece in 2023. The issue of patriarchy and women’s roles in…
GOP abortion laws are wildly out of step with many evangelicals’ convictions
Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, 21 Republican-led states have passed restrictions and/or outright bans on women receiving elective abortions. The most stringent of these laws may be found in the state of Texas, whose state legislature…
My last visit to a Southern Baptist church
My first visit to a Southern Baptist church occurred in 1971, when I was 15 years old. My family had just moved from Alamogordo, N.M., to my parent’s hometown of Muskogee, Okla. On my first Sunday in town, my aunt,…
Prominent Arkansas SBC church accused of hiding knowledge of former staff member’s abuse of child
A former Southern Baptist children’s minister accused of child sexual abuse has asked an Arkansas court to seal his record, an effort critics say would hinder other potential victims from coming forward. Meanwhile, the Southern Baptist church where he last…
Here’s the lie exposed: There are no medical exemptions to Texas abortion law
This article was updated Dec. 12 with additional information as the case developed. For months, advocates of the new law that bans almost all abortions in Texas have been telling us there is an exemption for medically necessary terminations…
Letter to the Editor: I was there when CBF was created, and I disagree with BNG analysis
December 5, 2023 Dear Editor: I was troubled and offended by Andrew Gardner’s article “On the SBC, Alliance and CBF and Other Lost Causes.” It was clearly an opinion article and he is entitled to his opinion, but some of his opinions…