News & Commentary About All Things Baptist

Mark McEntire is an Associate Professor of Religion at Belmont University in Nashville. In his recent column for EthicsDaily.com titled How Fast Can Rick Warren Spin?, McEntire argues that last Saturday’s Civil Forum on the Presidency held at Saddleback Church and hosted by the Saddleback Civil Forum (not Saddleback Church) violates the separation of church [...]

From Sam Hodges of the Dallas Morning News: Leaders of three major black Baptist denominations have released the following statement through the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty: This is a joint statement of the presidents of three of the predominantly African-American Baptist denominations that relate to the Baptist Joint Committee, which is composed of [...]

The November/December issue of the Baptist Joint Committee’s Report from the Capital came out today.   In this exciting issue, your truly provides the Guest View. Last month, Dr. Jimmy Allen penned the first part in a three-part series on the New Baptist Covenant. My article is part 2 of this series and is entitled [...]

A little breaking news from the press room of the BJC….. Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee, has been named a panelist for a joint project of The Washington Post and Newsweek magazine.On Faith is an online conversation on religion and its implications led by Newsweek’s managing editor, Jon Meacham, and author [...]

And now some BJC news… WASHINGTON — One of the most prominent historians of American evangelicalism called on “true Baptists” June 29 to re-assert their prophetic role “as watchmen on the wall of separation between church and state.” Randall Balmer, a history professor at Columbia University, told more than 550 supporters of the Baptist Joint [...]

On Friday, Baptists attending the joint gathering of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the American Baptist Churches USA met at Fountain Plaza, directly behind the United States Capitol to celebrate religious liberty through the reading of G.W. Truett’s historic sermon. Johnny Pierce of Baptists Today covered the event (which I attended)…. WASHINGTON (ABP) — Eighty-seven [...]

Thursday marks the official beginning of the General Assembly of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. This year the General Assembly is being held in Washington D.C. And on Friday evening, the CBF and the American Baptist Churches USA will convene and worship together. For more on this historic gathering and celebration of Baptist unity – see [...]

Baptists and others who love religious liberty will gather on the steps of the Capitol next weekend to to show support for the separation of church and state. This rally will be held in conjunction with the General Assembly of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and is sponsored by the Baptist Joint Committee. Don Byrd of [...]

Back in February, Dr. James Dunn, former Executive-Director of the Baptist Joint Committee and current visiting professor at the Wake Forest University Divinity School, delivered the Walter B. and Kay W. Shurden Lectures on Religious Liberty and the Separation of Church and State. Below is a snippet from his lecture entitled “Priests and Prophets” “If [...]

Fred Clarkson of Talk2Action has written an exellent diary at The Daily Kos entitled Confronting Lies About The Separation of Church And State. He quotes extensively from Brent Walker’s popular sermon Answering The Top 10 Lies About Church And State delivered in September, 2005 at McAfee School of Theology in Atlanta. Clarkson’s diary comes on [...]