Opinion
Fighting Over Dirt That Doesn’t Belong to Us
Rockets launched from Gaza and airstrikes from Israel resulted in 67 deaths, the latest fight between Israel and Palestine. Jews argue it’s their ancestral home; Palestinians claim the land as their own. Whose land is it anyway?
Limited Access, Funding Plague Mental Health Care
The US is facing an unnecessary crisis in health care. The number of mental health patients has been rising for decades, and COVID-19 has made it even worse. Experts foresee a mental health nightmare on our horizon. What can we do?
Why Telling Your Story Builds Up Your Church
The pandemic sent many churches into social isolation about 14 months ago. As they come out of their sequestering from last year, churches should create opportunities for their members to share their stories with each other.
10 Steps to Transform Your Church
How does a big steeple church become a mission church? It’s not easy. But here are 10 steps one Baptist church in Atlanta is taking, and your church can apply these same steps on your journey to become a new kind of faith community.
Eid Mubarak: Good Faith Around a Table
To break barriers, one of the best methods of familiarizing yourself with someone else would be to invite them into your home and share a sacred meal. Christians would do well to follow the model of our Muslim and Jewish friends.
Why It’s OK to Have Mouthy Women in Your Church
Women have been kept silent under the guise of being proper or for fear of being divisive, especially in the church. The story of the Canaanite woman chips away at a toxic theology and patriarchy that has held the church hostage.
Free Beer? Better Ways to Encourage Vaccinations
More than a third of the US remains leery about getting the COVID-19 vaccine. Some want to wait and see; others say ‘no way!’; the rest will if required. Sure, we can offer beer or other freebies, but an appeal to morality is better.
God and Mothers
Mothers deserve all the appreciation they can get. In my early years as a pastor, the highest attendance of the year was rarely Christmas or Easter; it was Mother’s Day. And I would share this wisdom from the late Erma Bombeck.
Valuing Women’s Lives: National Women’s Health Week
Everyone from Hallmark to the grocery store to your child’s preschool goes out of their way to say how much they value moms. What would our society look like, however, if we really valued mothers’ and women’s lives?
Power of Beauty Cuts Through What Divides Us
Beauty is a special language that cuts through and sidelines all the things that divide us. Beauty possesses a divine, sacred quality and takes many forms, including what we might call emotional beauty and moral beauty.
‘Stop Being Political’
Some folks who strongly opposed the strong-armed, rightwing takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention aren’t willing to acknowledge that those same forces have taken over the Republican Party at almost every level.
Faith in My Patients to Decide for Themselves
As an OB/GYN, I see pregnant women who fear they will not survive pregnancy. Abortion will always be a necessary component of comprehensive health care. I have faith in my patients to make the right decision for their lives.
How Giant Mergers Will Affect Your Hospital
Experts argue that hospital mergers will define the US health care system’s future. With the need to upgrade to the latest technology and the constant staff training that results, it is hard for even medium-size hospitals to keep up.
Truth Decay: Clear-Cut Facts Can’t Be Denied
Even though we’ve been warned by poets, historians and prophets alike, no matter the political season or the political figure, no one has the power to deny history. But that hasn’t stopped some people from trying.
Culture-War Loyalists Take Aim at Latest Battle
The experience and voices of minorities have found their way into our national conversation. The teaching of history is being adjusted to give them a more prominent voice. And the loyal soldiers in the culture war are pushing back.
‘Love, a Tiara and a Cupcake’
Anger. Worry. Self-doubt. Susan Sparks’ latest work is no Pollyannaish book that pretends that faith is a magic bullet that will make all of our problems disappear. It does give us new ways of looking at our problems.
Why Laughter Will Fill the Church’s Future
Plenty of trends look tough for the church’s future. So much of the church of our generation has left a bad taste in people’s mouths. It’s enough to depress anyone. But the church will be fine, and its future filled with laughter.
Good Faith Media Fine Tunes Podcast Network
Good Faith Media is developing a podcast network that will include original content, partnership productions and curated podcasts from other organizations. We hope others join the network and help spread a little good faith.
Nurses’ Brutal Honesty Carries Heavy Burden
Nurses have been ranked as the most trustworthy and ethical profession for nearly two decades. They’ve earned this honor because they will be brutally honest to save lives and restore health. But that honesty carries a heavy toll.
Lag B’Omer What?
We all saw the sad news from Israel on April 29 when 45 people were crushed to death and 150 others injured during a Lag B’Omer festival in Meron, a town in upper Galilee. But what is Lag B’Omer, and why is it such a big deal?
Standing for Truth – And the Right to Tell It
Former president Donald Trump famously attacked journalists as an ‘enemy of the people’ and criticized accurate reporting that held him accountable as ‘fake news.’ And many Christians applauded. We must stand for truth, not lies.
Lessons from the Legend of C.B. Pierce
While we certainly are called to lend helping hands, it doesn’t seem God needs or wants our impatient or even well-intended coercion of the assumed unconverted. That’s one lesson learned from the legend of my great-grandfather.
How ‘Lou Grant’ Ignited My Spiritual Call to Journalism
I experienced a spiritual calling to journalism when I was 19 while watching TV. My calling came through the voice of Ed Asner, playing a newspaper editor on CBS’ hit show, ‘Lou Grant.’ For me, journalism is a way to do good.
Church, Health Dept. Team Up for Vaccine Clinic
Early in April, Second Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia, was contacted by the state’s Department of Health as a potential location to administer COVID-19 vaccines to the community. More than 200 people were vaccinated.
I Needed to Hear Justice, Not Next Time But This Time
Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. The verdict is in. Now, we all know who killed George Floyd. Derek Chauvin was convicted by a jury of his peers. I needed to see justice done with my own eyes. Or I would never believe in justice again.
Free Press Steers Society in Right Direction
When millions do not accept basic, verifiable information as readily as drivers follow their GPS devices, society meanders in the wilderness at breakneck speed with its headlights off. That’s why we need to support a free press.
‘Nomadland’
Winning the Oscar for best picture, ‘Nomadland’ tells the story of a woman who, after her husband dies and her town shrivels up when the local plant closes, begins to live a life on the road and meets other nomads in her journey.
Rick Santorum Is Wrong – and Right
Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum severely devalued the cultures, systems and religions of Indigenous peoples, claiming the US was ‘birthed from nothing’ when colonists arrived. While his main claim was wrong, he got one thing right.
Why We Need to Change Our Culture of Loneliness
More Americans are living alone. This trend – along with the rise in online interactions, work-from-home policies and social distancing over the last year – adds to a culture of loneliness. This failure to connect has consequences.
Don’t Underestimate Breathing
People in space are strongly aware of how vital it is to breathe. So are people down below who live in a state of fear, worried that their skin color alone makes them a target of suspicion and violence. It shouldn’t be that way.