The stories of Zaevion Dobson, Freddie Grey, Tamir Rice, and the birth of Jesus decenter everything we think we know about the meaning of life and Christmas. This season has nothing to do with where you go after you die,…
2015 delivered battering to the church — but also blessings, ministers say
By Jeff Brumley Churches, ministries and clergy faced plenty of challenges in 2015. The “nones” and the “dones” were on the rise and church attendance continued to drop. Meanwhile, the number of Christians declined sharply in the overall population while…
It’s time to abandon reason
By Greg Jarrell On Monday, Dec. 28, Timothy McGinty, district attorney of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, announced what everyone suspected, and many hoped would not be true — that there will be no charges in the slaying of 12-year old Tamir…
Christians must model grace and love in time of fear, ministers say
By Jeff Brumley ’Tis the season to be … fearful? It’s not what the lyrics actually say but they may as well given the politically induced hysteria surrounding Muslim immigration and Syrian refugees. A lot of churches and evangelical leaders…
Baptist missionaries hope song may soften hearts toward Syrian refugees
By Ken Camp After his wife and son witnessed the plight of Syrian refugees firsthand during a mission trip to the Middle East, Rick Brown wrote the words and music to For the Refugee both as a petition to God…
Faith groups join White House in targeting religious bigotry
By Bob Allen The Obama administration announced a new initiative to fight religious discrimination in communities at a White House forum Dec. 17 about upholding America’s tradition of religious pluralism. Vanita Gupta, head of the Civil Rights Division of the…
Baptist leaders help draft call to respond to refugees with compassion
By Bob Allen Southern Baptist Convention leaders helped draft a statement released Dec. 17 calling on evangelical Christians to respond to the Syrian refugee crisis with compassion rather than fear. The statement, approved by about 100 denominational, network and nonprofit…
Reimagining churches as full-time partners with those in poverty
By Laura Rector I was temporarily homeless this summer after I lost my below market-rate housing in California to a planned development. This transition meant spending about 40 days without a true residence and sleeping in hotels or friends and…
Faith advocates weigh Paris agreement on climate change
By Brian Kaylor As diplomats from more than 190 nations spent nearly two weeks in Paris hammering out details of an international agreement to reduce climate change, faith leaders also traveled to the talks in hopes of offering a moral…