With the Presidential debates well over, millions of people are heading to the polls. One of the key voting blocks will have an opportunity to make their vote a spiritual act. My church, The First Baptist Church of Ballston Spa,…
Communing with saints
By Molly T. Marshall Some of the excesses of Catholic spirituality — veneration of statues and feasts that celebrate primarily a European notion of sainthood (brave men and docile women) — have left our branch of the church unsure about…
Seven Reasons Why Christians Should Celebrate ‘Halloween’
Is celebrating a holiday that honors ghouls, demons, ghosts, and everything that goes bump in the night dangerous or even evil? Somewhere, in the halls of history, Halloween or All Hallows Eve, got hijacked. What started as a day to…
Salvation by works?
Salvation by works. That’s a phrase that is anathema to baptists the world round. Instead, the rallying cry is sola fide, by faith alone. But what if that wasn’t the message of Jesus? We are, I presume, all familiar with…
Billy Graham and politics
My maternal grandmother thought Billy Graham was a saint above all others. You simply could not say anything negative about the evangelist in her presence. She held the same regard for Jimmy Carter, because she considered him a godly man…
The theology of the living dead
The zombies are coming! The third season of the hit show “The Walking Dead” is out. This hit TV show is based on a popular comic book series by the same name. This new series is not your typical ‘horror’…
Baptist addresses Vatican crowd
By Bob Allen A U.S. scholar representing the Baptist World Alliance at a recent Vatican gathering of Catholic bishops described his presence as “a moment of historic significance.” “Baptists and Catholics differ on important ecclesial and theological issues but we…
Baptists embrace pet blessings
By Jeff Brumley Even at Broadway Baptist Church, where classical and contemplative worship are the norm, some folks were stunned a few years back when the pastor held an animal blessing ritual in the courtyard. Turns out they were in…
Why the “nones” are leaving church, but not God
It should make any established American denomination panic: the dramatic increase in number of Americans leaving organized religion. In 2007, the percentage of the religious unaffiliated was around 15% and now that number is around 20% according to a new…