“My mom’s the greatest!” Those are fighting words to many a child: “Oh yeah, well MY MOM’S the greatest!” An adult, on the other hand, likely smiles and says, “Yep, mine too.” Adults do nuance, and this includes adults who…
Ukrainian Baptists should be shocked that Baptists in America are abandoning them
I don’t understand why Speaker Mike Johnson, by all accounts a committed Baptist, is abandoning the Baptists of Bucha, Ukraine. We all remember Bucha as the city where, two years ago, Russian invaders raped, tortured and murdered. I also remember…
Immigration advocates deplore House Republicans’ effort to tie Ukraine aid to severe border measures
Immigration rights advocates are pleading with Congress to reject any foreign aid legislation that includes permanent and severe reductions to asylum access for migrants. The appeal was issued as Senate Republicans seek to make border security issues a key condition…
Russian Baptist leader targeted, flees home after praying for peace
Yuri Sipko, a former president of the Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists in Russia, fled his homeland in August when authorities attempted to arrest him for publicly praying for peace in Ukraine. The retired pastor and former vice president of the…
These countries are called out for severe religious freedom violations
The oppression of Ukrainian religious communities should be added to the war crimes charges already filed against Russian leaders by judges in the Hague, an official with the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said May 1. Brutal and ongoing…
Ukrainians join European Baptists to help quake victims in Syria and Turkey
Russian bombs, missiles, artillery shells and gunfire have been unable to prevent Ukrainian Baptists from joining the global effort to help the victims of deadly earthquakes that struck the Middle East last month. “After over a year of war in…
80,000 Jews have fled Russia since Putin invaded Ukraine
Jews are urged to flee Russia as the persecution of religious minorities in that country increasingly matches the oppression of Ukrainian faith groups, an exiled rabbi said during a webinar hosted by the U.S. Commission on Religious Liberty. “This new…
On first anniversary of war in Ukraine, BWA receives an update and prays for sufferers
Baptists from more than 50 nations gathered virtually to mark the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and to pray for those who continue to suffer from the military onslaught. The Baptist World Alliance sponsored the Feb. 24…
A war beyond borders: The rippling effect of the Ukraine war on Africa
When Russian President Vladimir Putin made good on his threat to invade and unleash war on Ukraine Feb. 24, 2022 — one year ago today — not many people in Africa, thousands of kilometers away, imagined they would pay a…