While the prospect of becoming enslaved may seem like an irrelevant question today — slavery was abolished in the United States 157 years ago with the ratification of the 13th Amendment — last week citizens in five states voted on…
Jewish couple sues after United Methodist agency receiving taxpayer funding refuses to help them adopt a disabled child
Among the core beliefs espoused by Holston United Methodist Home for Children in Tennessee are assertions that “it is the birthright of every child to have a family” and that “the best place for a child to be raised is…
In Tennessee and Kentucky, religious freedom claims and COVID prevention plans are in conflict
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to strain the already contentious boundaries of religious practice versus public policy. In the same week the U.S. Supreme Court ruled New York may not restrict religious worship gatherings to prevent the spread of coronavirus, two…
Baptist layman Charlie Daniel: six decades of courage, compassion and wit as an editorial cartoonist
Charlie Daniel was called a lot of things during more than six decades as a newspaper cartoonist in Knoxville, Tennessee. Some of the names are unprintable. Others are just amusing. “I got some letters and emails over the years saying,…
LifeWay cutting staff, expenses due to COVID-19 impact on sales
LifeWay Christian Resources will cut staff and implement other budgetary cutbacks due to steep revenue declines caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization announced April 29.
Ministries respond with grit, creativity to White House refugee cuts
“They are grieving. It’s really hard to come to a new country with the language hurdles and a culture that’s so different.”
A church-based store where shopping is ministry
Shoppers like knowing they are contributing to a trade that doesn’t involve toxic materials, child-labor or sweatshops.
Baptist newspaper supports ‘bathroom bill’
A Southern Baptist state newspaper editor says Tennessee lawmakers should put children’s safety ahead of money when considering a controversial bill that would require public school students grades K-12 and higher to use the restroom that corresponds to their sex…
Tennessee governor vetoes Bible bill
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam says designating the Bible as the state’s official book both violates the constitution and trivializes holy writ.
Tennessee poised to make Bible the official state book
A Southern Baptist lawmaker’s bill designating the Bible the official state book of Tennessee is on its way to the governor’s desk. Senate Bill 1108, sponsored by Sen. Steve Southerland, R-Morristown, would designate “the Holy Bible” as the official state…
An open letter to Tennessee
EDITOR’S NOTE: In an effort to report on the prophetic witness of Christians in America today, RLC has run several posts in the past year on the Moral Movement, which began in North Carolina and has now spread to 14…