ATLANTA (ABP) – More than 3,000 clergy and religious leaders from various faith traditions have endorsed a letter seeking clemency for a death-row inmate scheduled for execution in Georgia Sept. 29. Troy Davis Organizers plan to hand-deliver the letter to…
Court upholds graduations in church
MADISON, Wis. (ABP) – A federal court ruled Sept. 9 that two Wisconsin public high schools’ practice of holding graduation ceremonies in a church did not violate the constitutionally mandated separation of church and state. A divided three-judge panel of…
Baptist university president plans August 2012 retirement
HANNIBAL, Mo. (ABP) — Hannibal-LaGrange University President Woodrow Burt plans to retire next year. Woodrow Burt Now in his 18th year as the institution's head, Burt announced at the HLGU board of trustees meeting Sept. 9 that he will step…
CBF officers seek search committee members
ATLANTA (ABP) – Elected leaders of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship are seeking names to consider for a search committee to recommend a replacement for the moderate Baptist organization’s retiring CEO. Daniel Vestal, executive coordinator of the Atlanta-based CBF since 1996,…
State department cites religious freedom violations
WASHINGTON (ABP) – The State Department released an annual report Sept. 13 detailing violations of religious freedom around the world. Suzan Johnson Cook Suzan Johnson Cook, an ordained Baptist minister recently sworn in as United States ambassador-at-large for international religious…
Morally, 9/11 mixed for Americans, theologian says at Baptist seminary
SHAWNEE, Kan. (ABP) – Many 9/11 speakers discussed whether America is any safer now than it was 10 years ago, but a Baptist seminary in Kansas pondered a decade later whether Americans are better people. Addressing a packed house at…
Baptists aid Syrian refugees pouring into Lebanon
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (ABP) – Thousands of Syrian refugees pouring into Lebanon in recent months are being met with Baptist aid. The Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development and the Rahbe Baptist Church have coordinated receipt and spending of…
Passport begins week of online 9/11 reflections
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (ABP) – Ten years ago, leaders of the student and education ministry Passport felt that after the 9/11 terrorist attacks that pre-printed Advent devotions were suddenly out of date. They quickly produced replacement online devotions on a website…
Baptists minister to physical, spiritual needs caused by Texas wildfires
BASTROP, Texas (ABP) — Dan Franklin couldn’t even smell the scent of smoke Friday that entailed the destruction of about 1,500 homes, the burning of about 34,000 acres and the loss of two lives. The volunteer chaplain with the Texas…