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Even though great progress has been made addressing the spread of Human Immunodeficiency Virus and in treating those who have been infected with it, thousands are still being infected each year and people are still dying from it. To bring us up to date on this disease and issues related to it, such as Hepatitis C and Opioid addiction, and to learn how we, as Christians, can join with those who have or are effected in some way by the disease to do ministry, I have turned to Wayne Smith. Wayne is the founder of Samaritan Ministry, which is a ministry out of Central Baptist Bearden in Knoxville, TN.

You can learn more about Wayne and Samaritan Ministry at the excellent resource: samaritancentral.org.

Other important resources Wayne mentions in the interview are:

aidsvu.org

hiv.gov

Burden of a Secret: The Story of Truth and Mercy in the Face of AIDS by Jimmy Allen

Breaking the Conspiracy of Silence: Christian Churches and the Global AIDS Crisis by Donald E. Messer

This I Know: A Simple Biblical Defense for LGBTQ Christians by Jim Dant

Changing Our Mind: Definitive 3rd of the Landmark Call for Inclusion of LGBTQ Christians with Response to Critics by David P. Gushee

The music for this episode is from a clip of a song called ‘Father Let Your Kingdom Come’ which is found on The Porter’s Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter’s Gate Worship Project. You can learn more about the album and the Worship Project at theportersgate.com.

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My guest for this episode is Dr. Melissa Rogers. Dr. Rogers was Associate General Counsel then General Counsel for the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. Following this, she became Executive Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships during the Obama administration and Special Assistant to President Obama.

Questions about the place of religion in American public life are continuously being raised and debated. Confusion and misconceptions abound. A significant part of what divides us in the political and cultural situation in our nation at this time revolves around religious liberty and plurality.

Dr. Rogers has provided an excellent resource to guide us on the confusing and complex issues relating to government and religion, religious liberty, and the separation of church and state in her recently published book, Faith in American Public Life (Baylor University Press, 2019). This book is the subject of my discussion with Dr. Rogers.

My kind of Baptists have, since the time before the American Revolution, been advocates for and active in issues of religious liberty (I use the phrase, ‘My kind of Baptists’ because there are many different kinds of Baptists and not all support religious liberty, plurality, and the separation of church and state). The existence of the Baptist Joint Committee is a key example of that advocacy and activity. Even though Dr. Rogers is no longer with the BJC, this episode serves as the first in an ongoing series I will have with the BJC about religious liberty and the policies and laws constantly arising concerning it.

Dr. Rogers is presently Visiting Professor at Wake Forest University and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

The music for this episode is from a clip of a song called ‘Father Let Your Kingdom Come’ which is found on The Porter’s Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter’s Gate Worship Project. You can learn more about the album and the Worship Project at theportersgate.com.