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…
Are we finally witnessing the death of Christianity in America?
Several months ago a Pew Research study sparked what almost seem like shouts of glee from those who were eager to declare the impending death of Christianity in America. According to the report, Millennials are leaving the Church in droves…
Climate translation and Paris COP21
By Scott Stearman In a meeting I attended at the Council on Foreign Relations, David Sandalow made a semi-funny 2-degree joke about climate change. Sandalow is a fellow at Columbia University and a former Undersecretary of Energy. He participated in…
Baptist schools seek waiver from LBGT discrimination ban
By Bob Allen The federal government has granted waivers to more than two dozen religious institutions of higher learning from Title IX, which protects LGBT students from discrimination. Carson-Newman University, affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention, recently received exemption for…