Recent Articles
Party Like It’s 2019? No Thanks
Getting out and about after a year-plus of isolation during the pandemic is exciting. Retaining good and healthy habits, while discarding some bad ones, will serve us and others well as we move into a brave new world.
9 Ways to Overcome Pandemic’s Shadowy Grip
The pandemic has seen so many shadows surfacing amid the isolation, loss and distance. As we navigate the mental, physical and emotional challenges, here are 9 ways to care for ourselves when we’re feeling fragile and uncertain.
Being Honest When You Talk About the Bible
We’re not honest about the Bible. We say it speaks in a single voice when it actually speaks in many, and some of them seem contradictory. We treat the Bible like a how-to manual, but it urges us to wrestle with the hard questions.
May 18, 2021
In today’s curated news and headlines: Richmond’s First Baptist Church Unveils Shower Renovations for the Homeless; Where Views on Race and Police Stand a Year After George Floyd’s Murder; Supreme Court to Take up Major Abortion Case Next Term That Could Limit Roe v. Wade; and more
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.
May 17, 2021
In today’s news and analysis headlines: Diane Butler Bass: White Evangelicals After Trump: What Now?; How Purity Culture and Anti-Asian Racism Intersect in Some White Evangelical Circles’ White House Reaches Out to Atheists, Secularists; and more
People of Good Faith: Jack Moline
Jack Moline is president of Interfaith Alliance and a Conservative rabbi. He is a member of Good Faith Media’s strategic advisory board.
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.
Most White Evangelicals Embrace ‘The Big Lie’
Nearly two-thirds of white evangelicals in the US believe the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump – the only faith group to have a majority affirm the disproven claim that has been dubbed ‘The Big Lie.’
Latest Nurturing Faith Book Offers Story of Grace, Mercy
Mercy Jeyaraja Rao’s sense of being called to be a teacher soon after graduation from high school would shape the next 48 years of her life. Her story of redemption and release is the latest offering from Nurturing Faith.
May 14, 2021
In today’s news and analysis headlines: Faith in Numbers: Is Church Attendance Linked to Higher Rates of Coronavirus?; Top Law Enforcement Officials Say the Biggest Domestic Terrorist Threat Comes From White Supremacists; The Eugenics Roots of Evangelical Family Values; Religion Plays a Role in the Renewed Conflict in Israel, But it May Not Be What You Think; and more
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.
May 13, 2021
In today’s curated news and analysis headlines: Only Women’s College in US to Shut Down Amid Declining Enrollment, Financial Difficulties; A San Francisco Pastor Has Become the First Openly Transgender Bishop in the US; Reparations for Tulsa Race Massacre Moral Imperative for Tulsa’s Faith Community, Leaders Say; American Bible Society Releases 11th Annual State of the Bible Report; and more
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.
May 12, 2021
In today’s news and analysis headlines: South Carolina Aims to Bring Back the Firing Squad; Now There Appear to be Three Paths for Once-United Methodists; Church Attendance is to President Biden as Golf Outings were for Trump; Young U.S. Jews Becoming More Orthodox as American Judaism Splits Between Devout and Secular; and more.
‘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.
May 11, 2021
In today’s news and analysis headlines: 2 Oklahoma Boys Pulled from Class for ‘Black Lives Matter’ T-shirts;
Baptist Group Refuses Kentucky State Contract to Provide Care for Abused, Neglected Kids; Largest Church in SBC Ordains Three Women as Pastors; Violence Flares at Jerusalem Mosque as Israel Marks Jerusalem Day; and more.
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.
May 10, 2021
In today’s news and curated headlines: The Mothers of Malcolm X, MLK and James Baldwin–New Book Explores How They Shaped Their Sons‘Belonging is Stronger Than Facts’: The Age of Misinformation; A Pennsylvania Lawmaker and the Resurgence of Christian Nationalism; Mississippi GOP Official Warns ‘We Seek the End Time,’ Calls for More Christians to Seek Office; For Some Pastors, the Past Year Was Too Much to Bear; and more
People of Good Faith: Cynthia Mitchell
Cynthia Mitchell is a retired college US history teacher. She currently serves as a member of the strategic advisory board for Good Faith Media’s publishing division.