I recently had the opportunity to read a stirring challenge to those most opposed to the still-controversial and legally-unsettled HHS mandate requiring all businesses to provide contraceptive coverage to their employees including four abortifacient drugs. The two prongs of the…
Learning to suffer
I find it extremely ironic that the Church, which claims to be the embodiment the lamb that was slain, has such a difficult time ministering to those who are suffering. When tragedy strikes us, many congregants, deacons, and even some…
Conference links intelligent design to ‘essential’ doctrines of Christianity
By Bob Allen Critics of a view of creation termed “intelligent design” describe a conference this weekend, co-sponsored by Houston Baptist University, as an admission that the movement’s roots lie not in science, as proponents insist, but in religion. Faith…
Truth or Merely the Best Story?
I recently and finally had an opportunity to watch the Oscar-award winning movie, “Life of Pi.” While it wasn’t quite as visually stunning on my home screen as I suspect it was in 3D on the big screen, I thoroughly…
Charity in all things
Now that the debate billed as a kind of clash-of-the-titans has finished the real curiosity for me is found in reading the write-ups. When I first heard that Ken Ham was going to debate Bill Nye I was intrigued. I…
In sermon and blog, preacher laments ‘lily white’ Jesus
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By Jeff Brumley As both a writer, comedian and a pastor, Susan Sparks knows how to work an audience and a congregation. And whether on stage or behind the pulpit, she also knows how to raise eyebrows and a temper…
Baptists and Catholics together–Twitter edition
What do Baptists and Catholics have in common? That sounds like the set-up for a joke of some sort–or at least for a very brief response, given the anti-Catholicism that has marked much of the Baptist tradition (even when we…
Unequally yoked? Christians increasingly navigate interfaith marriage
By Ken Camp Not that long ago, many Baptist youth ministers warned students about the dangers of interdenominational dating. After all, it could lead to marrying a Methodist, and would a child from that home be sprinkled or immersed? Today,…
For interfaith couples considering marriage — talk early
By Ken Camp Ministers who provide premarital pastoral counseling to interfaith couples should help them think seriously about their faith and the faith of a future spouse, a Baptist pastor with experience in interfaith dialogue suggests. “I’ve found it best…