The Freedom From Religion Foundation once again has filed a lawsuit claiming the IRS ministerial housing allowance is unconstitutional. The Wisconsin-based group that advocates separation of church and state from a secularist position sued April 6 in federal court. It…
Do you know the difference between being an American and being a Christian?
One of the great gifts of the Baptist voice to the wider world of Christianity is the idea of the separation of church and state. In the United States, this voice gave direction, via the Constitution, that citizens of our…
Why Crux‘s Knights of Columbus ‘partnership’ is problematic
The Knights have not remained politically neutral, and have often worked against separation of church and state. More recently, it made million-dollar plus contributions to overturn marriage equality in California, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington.
Georgia governor vetoes anti-LGBT ‘religious liberty’ bill
Georgia’s Baptist governor announced March 28 he would veto a controversial “religious freedom” bill that opponents said would foster LGBT discrimination. Gov. Nathan Deal, a member of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship-aligned First Baptist Church in Gainesville, Ga., said he had no…
Getting political in the pulpit
The responsibility of the church in this current political climate should be clear. There’s no violation of separation of church and state to say from the pulpit that hitting people who disagree with us is wrong. Or excluding people who believe different things than we do should stop. Or accumulating wealth while many struggle to make a living wage cannot continue.
Lawmakers seek repeal of no aid to religion in Oklahoma constitution
Lawmakers in Oklahoma are pushing a ballot initiative to repeal a section of the state constitution that prohibits the use of taxpayer money or property to advance religion. House Joint Resolution 1062, passed by the Oklahoma House of Representatives March…
What does “Jesus Is Lord” mean?
Earlier this month I wrote about Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his highly influential book The Cost of Discipleship, published in a new translation in 2001 as justDiscipleship. Bonhoeffer’s emphasis was upon following Jesus as Lord. But what does that mean?
Calling out “Calling out ‘American Evangelicalism'”
Calling out “Calling out ‘American Evangelicalism’” On January 19 (2016) moderate Baptist writer and editor John Pierce published a column entitled “Calling out ‘American Evangelicalism’” at https://baptiststoday.org/calling-out-american-evangelicalism/ . Pierce is editor ofNurturing Faith Journal—“the signature publication of Baptists Today, Inc.”
Calling out ‘American Evangelicalism’
It is time, way past time, to call out “American Evangelicalism” for what it is: a political movement that simply baptizes hard-right, secular political ideology in some religious varnish. Hence, my intentional identification of this movement sans the words “Christian”…
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.”
‘Spotlight’ tells important story about the church and journalism
By Michael Parnell One of the backbones of Baptist doctrine is the concept of the separation of church and state. Historically Baptists have held that there needed to be a clear wall between the interests of the church and the…