Brandan Robertson said he has yet to become fully accustomed to the feelings of public condemnation and rejection that come with his work as a bisexual Christian seeking LGBTQ inclusion in evangelical churches. Robertson, 24 and a former Southern Baptist…
In annual meeting do-over, Southern Baptists denounce ‘alt-right’ white supremacy
The Southern Baptist Convention condemned white supremacy in a resolution adopted 24 hours after a mostly white resolutions committee initially rebuffed a black pastor’s appeal to allow the issue to make it to the floor.
Satisfaction guaranteed: Southern Baptists refute efforts to soften the atonement
Christ died on the cross as a substitute for sinners, satisfying the wrath of a holy God, according to a Southern Baptist Convention resolution adopted June 13. Meeting June 13-14 in Phoenix, messengers to the 2017 SBC annual meeting passed…
Southern Baptists have lost a million members in 10 years
Membership in the Southern Baptist Convention declined for the 10th straight year, although at a slower pace than last year, while baptisms dropped to the lowest level in 70 years, according to statistics released in advance of the 2017 SBC…
Group wants Southern Baptists to remove gays from ‘sin list’
Picketers at next week’s Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Phoenix will seek to persuade messengers and leaders to remove LGBT individuals from the “sin list” in the nation’s second-largest faith group. Faith in America, a North Carolina-based advocacy organization,…
Seminary professors’ rapper photo roils social media
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has apologized for a photo which has circulated on Twitter of five white faculty members posing as black gang members. The photo has been criticized as racist.
Religious freedom clashes coming to a Sunday school class near you
A new small-group study curriculum produced by the Southern Baptist Convention portrays religious liberty as under siege in the United States of America. A joint project of the SBC Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and LifeWay Christian Resources, the six-week…
As some key congregations threaten to defund SBC, leaders look for solutions
Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention are taking seriously threats to withhold funds by churches dissatisfied with recent positions on public policy taken by some of the convention’s agencies. During its board leadership meeting Feb. 20-21, the SBC Executive Committee…
Southern Baptist leaders, others, oppose laws battling LGBT discrimination
More than 75 religious conservatives, including several leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention, have signed a public document opposing policies that ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Charter signers of the “Preserve Freedom, Reject Coercion” proclamation coordinated…
Chapel speaker terms Calvinism ‘Trojan Horse’
A Southern Baptist seminary president said Nov. 29 that Baptists who adopt Calvinistic theology and practice ought to consider joining another denomination. “I know there are a fair number of you who think you are a Calvinist, but understand there…
The Walking Dead (aka Night of the Living Evangelicals)
Many evangelicals actually denounced the GOP candidate in this election cycle, and yet the evangelical voting bloc elected Donald Trump. Trump had more support from white evangelicals than John McCain in 2008 or Mitt Romney in 2012. Trump garnered five…
‘Locker room banter’: Nightmare for the Religious Right
“You can’t endorse me … but I endorse you and what you are doing.” That memorable phrase, delivered by presidential candidate Ronald Reagan at the Religious Roundtable National Affairs Briefing in Dallas in August 1980, highlighted the public beginnings of…
Common missionary and military lives prepared Baptist chaplains for marriage
As a couple, Jim and Jo Kirkendall take the concept of “having things in common” to a whole new level. Both grew up overseas as children of missionaries with the then-Foreign Mission Board. Both became Navy chaplains – and met…
Protesting injustice is the modern Baptist’s evangelism, activists say
Like many who grew up Southern Baptist, Betsy Sowers fervently believes evangelism is the answer to the most pressing issues of the day. “I am very Baptist about that,” the Massachusetts resident said. But Sowers doesn’t define evangelism only as talking to…