Dr. Richard Land, BA (magna cum laude), Princeton; D.Phil. Oxford; and Th.M., New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, was president of the Southern Baptists’ Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (1988-2013) and has served since 2013 as president of Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, NC. Dr. Land has been teaching, writing, and speaking on moral and ethical issues for the last half century in addition to pastoring several churches.
Whenever I explain this to people, inevitably some of them say, “That’s wonderful news for young people, but what about those of us who got off the straight and narrow fifteen or twenty years ago?”
During our most recent time together, this young man asked me, “What is the most important thing I can tell someone?” I immediately thought, “What a great question!” To answer that question you have to immediately go back to basics or first principles.
The question at issue in the 303 Creative v. Elenis case is really quite simple: Should an American citizen be compelled to violate their conscience and create speech advocating that which they find morally abhorrent?
When brave Iranians came out in the streets in the first months of the Obama administration in 2009, they were waving American flags and their protest signs were in English, as many of the signs in Tiananmen Square were, appealing to us for support and help.
This humanistic, morally relative society has been metastasizing within American society for several generations, and its destructive chickens have come home to roost.
Given the divisive rhetoric employed by both sides in this election cycle, the results have been received by the populace with impressive acceptance and the American spirit of “we will try to do a better job of making our case to the American people in the next election.”
The most astounding result across the land from last Tuesday’s election was this — 98% of incumbents from both parties who ran for re-election were victorious. Yet exit polls revealed that 75% of voters think the country “was headed in the wrong direction.”
One of the most remarkable women produced by the 20th century passed away after living a truly remarkable life during her 87-year sojourn among us. Her name was Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, known to the world as Mother Teresa.
Why was Dr. Jones fired? The answer is simply because he was “too hard” and students were not receiving the grades in his class to which they felt they were entitled.
It has been suggested by some, including myself, that Jefferson meant literally a wall of separation between the institution of the church and the institution of the state—not the separation of religiously informed morality and public policy.
In the past fortnight, the University of Mississippi welcomed back perhaps its most famous graduate (with the possible exceptions of Archie and Eli Manning and the author John Grisham).
Too many American Evangelicals are befuddled, bedazzled, and bankrupt theologically. All true Evangelicals must be about our Heavenly Father’s business and be involved in some intense and comprehensive remedial education of our Evangelical brothers and sisters.
What kind of monarch will Charles III be? That question has been asked with increasing frequency for at least the last two decades as his mother advanced into senior citizenship status. And there are specific reasons for that question being asked with increasing concern.
This nation has now had time to digest the horrifying story of the abduction and murder of Liza Fletcher. Many of us are aware of the surveillance video of Liza’s violent abduction near the University of Memphis campus while she was on an early morning jog.
Queen Elizabeth II’s life was one of duty and service to her country. Even before her father's death, she had promised Britain and the Commonwealth that “my whole life, be it long or short, will be devoted to your service.” That is a promise she kept faithfully and well.
Gorbachev was desperate to reduce defense expenditures in order to reform a stagnant, moribund economy. Reagan sensed an opening and the two ended up meeting at a historic summit in Iceland in October 1986.
So, how do we as Americans step back from this dangerous political precipice? First, the Biden Justice Department should quit leaking to the press, and practice transparency. If they have nothing to hide, then prove it.
Our government and our society must make it unmistakably clear we will not tolerate the kind of violence that was perpetrated against Salman Rushdie. And we will not tolerate those who advocate or reward it, here or overseas.
I asked them what the problem was. The wife gave me a 5-minute rendition of all his faults. After about 15 minutes, I guess he had enough. He leaned over, spit in her face, and walked out.
What is the controversy roiling Southern Baptists concerning the term “pastor” all about? Is it a major doctrinal disagreement or is it merely a “tempest in a teapot,” unworthy of the heat it has generated? And why, in the larger scheme of things, does it matter?
