One week after the Southern Baptist Convention made national headlines for a variety of its actions, a smaller Baptist group will meet for its annual General Assembly that’s not likely to make headlines anywhere but here at BNG. And that’s…
A troubling question: Has Southern Baptist mission work among Palestinians been a bad investment?
Troub, short for Troublemaker, is the well-earned nickname of a fellow I got to know some years back. You say “up” and “hot,” he says “down” and “cold. Probably comes from his stormy days while studying at one of our…
To refrains of ‘But the Bible,’ I respond, ‘But the women’
As readers of Baptist News Global are aware, opponents of women in ministry often appeal to Scripture as the reason for women’s exclusion from pastoral leadership. Some well-meaning male ministers may even assert that if it were up to them,…
Focus on the Family says SBC didn’t vote to ban IVF
The Southern Baptist Convention didn’t actually vote to ban IVF, Focus on the Family says in a June 13 article posted to its Daily Citizens newsletter site. The comment comes in response to a resolution adopted by messengers to the…
What would Hannah say to Southern Baptists about IVF?
As my social media feed filled this week with posts and updates in the face of yet another gathering of Southern Baptists hell-bent on stripping away any leadership opportunities for women in ministry, I found myself angry and disheartened. While…
Reading the Bible without a leaf of hierarchy
Sunday before last in worship, we read from Genesis 3:8, a passage that says in the NRSV English translation: “They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and…
Pressler’s death brings overwhelming sadness
The formal death notice of Herman Paul Pressler III, a former Texas state appellate judge and the chief strategist behind a now 45-year rightward shift in the 14 million-member Southern Baptist Convention, hit me like a brick. For months, I…
What my grandparents would think of the Southern Baptist Convention today
In 1998, I spent the spring and summer in Rogers, Ark., with my grandparents. I had graduated from college the year before and was floundering, so hanging out for five months with my three living grandparents was a blessing even…
Here’s what you need to know to understand that SBC resolution opposing IVF
The Southern Baptist Convention has not always opposed abortion, and Southern Baptists have not always opposed in vitro fertilization. This week’s adoption of an anti-IVF resolution by messengers to the SBC annual meeting represents yet another rightward shift in the…