WASHINGTON (ABP) — A group of conservative evangelicals is endorsing immigration reform that secures America's borders and provides a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 12 million people living in the United States illegally. Religious leaders including Samuel Rodriguez of…
Controversial cross at center of recent Supreme Court case reportedly stolen
LAS VEGAS (ABP) — A simple metal-pipe cross in the middle of the Mojave Desert that inspired a passionate Supreme Court debate about religious freedom has reportedly been stolen. The cross — successor to one first erected as a World…
Baptist pastor in Azerbaijan reports another run-in with police
OSLO, Norway (ABP) — A Baptist pastor in Azerbaijan who served 10 months in prison before appeals from Baptists worldwide spurred the nation's president to pardon him says police have visited him again. Zaur Balaev, who leads a Baptist congregation…
Liberty U. to investigate alleged untruths by seminary president
LYNCHBURG, Va. (ABP) — Liberty University will investigate reports that its seminary president has misled the public in his testimony about converting from militant Islam to Christianity, officials of the school in Lynchburg, Va., announced May 10. Liberty Provost Ron…
Kagan’s church-state and social-issue views not clear from scant record
WASHINGTON (ABP) — President Obama’s latest Supreme Court nominee has an exceedingly thin paper trail on some of the legal questions most important to people of faith. But one thing is clear if Solicitor General Elena Kagan is confirmed to…
Website launched to link ‘missional’ Baptists in collaborative work
OKLAHOMA CITY (ABP) — A website launched May 10 aims to become an online platform for churches, mission organizations, strategists and international partners to collaborate to share the gospel in the 21st century. "This was born out of a desire…
Court upholds mention of ‘God’ in presidential oath
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A federal appeals court ruled May 7 that a California atheist lacked legal standing to strip the phrase "so help me God" from the presidential oath of office. Michael Newdow, an activist who previously sued unsuccessfully to…
Grand Ole Opry moving to Baptist church
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — A Southern Baptist congregation will take its place as the "mother church of country music" — at least for a while — as temporary host of the historic Grand Ole Opry on the evenings of May…
Gushee to head new Mercer Center for Theology and Public Life
ATLANTA (ABP) — Baptist ethicist David Gushee will head up a new effort by Mercer University to foster what the school calls “theologically based discussions on current issues and controversies.” David Gushee The Mercer Center for Theology and Public Life,…
Biomedical ethics in a brave, new world
POSSUM KINGDOM, Texas (ABP) — When Dennis Trammell exhausted treatments available in the United States for his multiple sclerosis and began looking at other options, he excluded from consideration any possible regimens involving embryonic stem cells. “I didn’t even explore…
Bioethics: Baptist hospital performs innovative cancer treatment
HARLINGEN, Texas (ABP) — A Baptist hospital is one of a few in the country performing a new treatment for cancer patients that kills cancer cells with electricity while not harming surrounding healthy tissue. Daniel Fuentes (right), an interventional radiologist,…
Flooded hotel donates perishable food to Baptists for disaster relief
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — Flooded and expected be out of commission for several months, the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville donated thousands of pounds of perishable frozen and refrigerated food to Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief to assist…