By Bob Allen A lifelong Baptist who advocates on behalf of clergy sex-abuse victims says the media is doing more to promote healing and children’s safety than pastors who try to keep it out of the headlines. Amy Smith, Houston…
Hobby Lobby appeals to Supreme Court
By Bob Allen Hobby Lobby has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether the government can force it to provide health insurance for employees that covers methods of birth control that the company’s Southern Baptist owners believe can cause…
SBC leader speaks at Mormon school
By Bob Allen Mormons and Southern Baptists may not see each other in heaven, but they might in jail, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler said in an Oct. 21 lecture at Brigham Young University. “I do not believe…
SBC leader: Religious liberty under assault
By Bob Allen Southern Baptists’ top public policy spokesman compared current threats to religious liberty to those faced by America’s founders Sunday morning on Fox & Friends. “This is just one fiery rafter in a burning house,” Russell Moore of…
Advocate says SBC leader gives bad advice
By Bob Allen A leading advocate for victims of clergy sex abuse says a Southern Baptist leader’s advice not to take congregational disputes to the media “flies in the face of common sense and civic duty.” David Clohessy, national director…
How can Christians really help the poor?
By Ken Camp Everyone agrees that Christians ought to help those truly in need but differ on how best to help the poor. Experts say that developing a strategy based on the needs of a particular community can help churches…
Christians protest use of Asian stereotypes
By Bob Allen More than 80 Asian-American Christians have signed an open letter to evangelicals calling for an end to racial stereotyping of Asians in religious literature. Christian leaders including Ken Fong, a California Baptist pastor who spoke at the…
Compassion fatigue hinders aid to poor
By Ken Camp Chronic poverty, hunger and homelessness can leave even the most committed Christian feeling overwhelmed and defeated. “After you finish providing one set of meals, more hungry people are in line right behind them. And there’s more after…
Baptist leader blasts ‘civil religion’
By Bob Allen The Southern Baptist Convention’s chief spokesman on public policy said Oct. 10 that issues facing military chaplains are part of a larger trend in society to endorse “a bland, generic, nothing blob of civil religion over genuine…
From prostitution to victimization
The first time I walked down this street, it was by accident. We were relatively new to the city. I enjoy ferreting out the various markets and shopping possibilities in cities we where we have lived. Brussels was no different….
Love has no borders
In April of 2011 the legislature of Alabama passed the harshest anti-immigrant law in America. Central Alabama had just been hit by a series of devastating tornadoes, and churches were preoccupied with ministry to those who were victims of the…
Stuck in the messy middle
By Alan Bean In the 1950s and 1960s, the unofficial public theology of America was dominated by theologians associated with what we now call “the Protestant Mainline.” A public theology makes biblical teaching relevant to the pressing political, economic and…