SC Southern Baptist Convention Head: Gingrich’s Adultery Okay, Romney’s Mormonism Not
The GOP has a mess on its hands.
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Richard Land Steps Down, But Not Out of the Culture Wars
Without question, Land will be remembered for his important roles in America’s culture wars, especially with regard to abortion and gay rights: he helped give the SBC a public witness that stood in consistent opposition to gay rights, abortion rights and even many forms of birth control. A once moderately pro-choice denomination was transformed into a “pro-life” denomination largely under Land’s leadership. He also narrowly defined “pro-life” for evangelicals to mean strictly “anti-abortion,” eschewing the more expansive understanding of that concept offered by the Catholic Church.
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Christian Publishing v. the Vagina
After Baptist bookstore chain LifeWay refused to stock evangelical darling The Blind Side, some Christian authors are challenging what one calls the store’s “stranglehold” on Christian books. Is this the end of retailers’ control over industry standards?
Read MoreWho’s Threatening Military Chaplains’ Religious Freedom? Southern Baptists
Not gay couples or military leaders, but the SBC.
Read MoreSouthern Baptist Convention Declares Gay Rights Are Not Civil Rights
In New Orleans today, hypocrisy and hubris.
Read MoreRichard Land, Under Investigation for Plagiarism, Wages Religious Freedom War With Bishops
Claims secularists “don’t like people of faith.”
Read More“Tonight I Am Ashamed to be a Baptist”
A Baptist watches a fellow Baptist’s violently anti-gay sermon.
Read MoreBaptist Blogger who Discovered Land Plagiarism says Investigation is “Unprecedented”
Will the Southern Baptists’ point man in Washington lose his key demographic—journalists?
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Keeping the “Southern” in Southern Baptist Convention
For leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, if heaven ain’t a lot like Dixie—with low taxes, fewer regulations, a decreased state involvement in public welfare and institutions, denial of coverage for women’s health concerns, and bitter attacks on the Obama administration launched from every available platform—then they don’t want to go. And even the city slickers running Mitt Romney’s campaigns and the rowdy friends at Ron Paul’s rallies should be able to appreciate that.
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Top 2011 Religion Stories That Weren’t
Time magazine’s religion top ten list had Mormonism in the spotlight. The Religion Newswriters Association voted Osama bin Laden’s death (and the faith response to it) their number one story in a list that included Harold Camping, Rob Bell, and Mississippi’s Personhood initiative. Oh, and the top religion author of 2011? Tim Tebow, whose life story is a runaway bestseller for our friends at HarperOne.
But what about the stories that shoulda been, but weren’t? We’re thinking this list, drawn up Peter Laarman, might provide a template for 2012 coverage. —The Eds.
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