Other Opinions

The mythos of American self-making — that with the right amount of grit and cunning, the individual can determine his own truth and fate — lends itself to the view that civil bureaucracies and establishments, by contrast, are inherently sclerotic and corrupt: the information they provide automatically suspect.

Recently, at one of his daily news conferences, Gov. Andrew Cuomo addressed the question that has haunted so many of us lately: How much is a human life worth? 

I don't know of a person who isn't outraged over the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. But check the social media posts of our African American brothers and sisters in Christ and the overall message is something different from before. They're asking for the help of Caucasian Christians to speak out and help put a stop to these tragedies.

Masks have been used for various purposes throughout history. With the spread of COVID-19 slowing, questions regarding mask-wearing are increasing.

We’ve become used to scenes of people applauding the workers who are on the front lines of the coronavirus crisis. There’s another group that needs our attention too — and that’s our faith leaders — who provide connectedness, foster resiliency, and offer hope to those whose lives have been disrupted.

The World Health Organization has designated 2020 as “Year of the Nurse,” marking 200 years since the birth of Florence Nightingale, who “will forever be linked with modern nursing — and rightly so.”

Preachers periodically inform congregations that the Ten Commandments are not the Ten Suggestions. As part of its coronavirus reopening plan, the CDC came up with a few dozen suggestions for faith communities. The White House has rejected them as commandments that infringe on religious rights.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, adults and children alike have called on political leaders and health experts to address a concern: Is now a bad time to lose a tooth? I am delighted that our leaders have not mistaken childishness for triviality.

Like many pastors and church leaders around the world, I've been grieving the damage caused by COVID-19. Yet, God is at work. We are mindful of the promise in Paul's Letter to the Romans: “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”

For more than a decade, abuse survivor advocates have been asking the Southern Baptist Convention to establish a clergy predator database, and they've been confronted with a denomination determined to do nothing. A new Baptist sex abuser database has been launched at BaptistAccountability.org.