ABILENE, Texas (ABP) — Hardin-Simmons University trustees elected as their school's president Lanny Hall, president of Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas, and a past president and chancellor at Hardin-Simmons. Hall will be the 15th president in Hardin-Simmons' 118-year history,…
School sued for censoring religious message
Here's one of the posters at the center of the lawsuit. (ADF) NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — An elementary school in Mt. Juliet, Tenn., is being sued for censoring the word "God" out of posters promoting a student-led prayer event. A…
Baylor chair, over objections, names all-regent search committee
WACO, Texas (ABP) — Baylor University Regents chairman Howie Batson announced March 5 that he had named 14 current members of the school’s governing board to a committee charged with searching for the university’s next president. He also named 10…
Bill Leonard stepping down as dean of Wake Forest divinity school
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (ABP) — The founding dean of the Wake Forest University Divinity School is stepping down next year, school officials announced March 5. Bill Leonard will retire from that post June 30, 2010. But he will continue to teach full-time as…
BWA leaders hear sobering finance report, fill justice post
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (ABP) — Members of the Baptist World Alliance’s executive committee heard a sobering financial report detailing investment losses over the last year, agreed to slash the group’s budget, gave initial approval to organizational changes and met BWA’s new…
Trustees keep Liberty University gun-free
LYNCHBURG, Va. (ABP) — Liberty University will remain gun-free, trustees at the Baptist school founded by the late Jerry Falwell decided March 3. Last year, Liberty’s chapter of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus asked university officials to change the…
Student newspaper, Catholic prof spar over indulgences revival
WACO, Texas (ABP) — A Baylor Lariat editorial critical of the Catholic Church’s newly revived practice of indulgences brought a strong rebuke from a prominent Catholic professor at the world’s largest Baptist university. The Feb. 27 editorial in Baylor’s student newspaper…
Mercer conference calls Christians to ‘creation care’
Left to Right: Meg Thomsen, program coordinator of Harvard Medical School’s Center for Health and the Global Environment, David Gushee, Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer, and Judith Curry, Georgia Tech professor, listen during the plenary session of…
Christians, other torture opponents call for commission to investigate
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A coalition of religious leaders who oppose the United States’ use of torture in the fight against terrorism called March 3 for a “truth commission” to investigate government policy and allegations of inhumane actions against terrorism detainees…
Study: Churchgoers like porn, but don’t buy it on the Sabbath
BOSTON (ABP) — According to a new study, people who live in states with high church-attendance rates buy as much Internet pornography as their more secularized counterparts — but they are less likely to subscribe to an adult website on…
Senate scandal divides state Democrats over race
CHICAGO (ABP) — Calls for embattled Sen. Roland Burris to resign from the Senate are dividing his fellow Illinois Democrats along racial lines. Burris, the only black United States senator, is under fire for conflicting statements about his relationship with disgraced…
Faith-based leaders say budget is major shift in poverty policy
WASHINGTON (ABP) — President Obama's first proposed budget signals a dramatic shift in prioritizing domestic poverty, centrist and liberal Christian leaders said in a teleconference with reporters March 2. Nonetheless, some expressed concerns that portions of the proposal did not…