WASHINGTON (ABP) — A new survey shows that, even as Americans have become more accepting of non-traditional family structures, their view of the ideal family has remained the same — a heterosexual couple, married for life, with children. The survey,…
Missouri Baptists will vote again on local-church loyalty to SBC
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (ABP) — No congregation could be a Missouri Baptist Convention church without cooperating with the Southern Baptist Convention, if a constitution amendment is passed next week. Requiring a church to cooperate with the national convention would be a…
Senate panel avoids cuts in food-stamp program
WASHINGTON (ABP) — After pleading from prominent Baptists and other religious leaders, a Senate panel has declined to recommend major cuts in a federal program that subsidizes grocery purchases for the needy. On an 11-9 vote Oct. 19, the Senate…
Support for Baylor’s interim president fuels speculation about permanent job
WACO, Texas — (ABP) Baylor University's interim president is impressing enough people that he still might emerge as a candidate for the permanent presidency — despite the fact he withdrew his name from consideration last month. Interim Bill Underwood, a…
Birth control, not liberalism, explains mainline decline, researchers say
CHICAGO (ABP) — The decline of mainline church membership over the last century had more to do with sex than theology, according to research by a trio of sociologists. The popular notion that conservative churches are growing because mainline churches…
Kentucky leaders negotiate plan to let Georgetown elect own trustees
GEORGETOWN, Ky. (ABP) — Officials of Georgetown College and the Kentucky Baptist Convention are proposing a new working relationship that would allow the college to have a self-perpetuating board of trustees while maintaining historic ties between the two organizations. The…
Coordinating Council votes to add ‘Jesus’ language to CBF constitution
ATLANTA (ABP) — National leaders of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship voted Oct. 14 to restore explicit references to Jesus deleted from the group's constitution in July. A preamble to the constitution was approved by the CBF Coordinating Council with little…
New stem-cell procedures could quell fears — or create new ones
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Scientists have successfully tested two new methods designed to achieve the same ends as embryonic stem-cell research while avoiding the ethical controversy over the destruction of embryos. The two methods are detailed in articles published Oct. 16…
Questionnaire reveals Miers’ support for anti-abortion law in 1989
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Documents made public Oct. 18 reveal that Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers supported a constitutional amendment in 1989 that would ban most abortions. The revelation is almost certain to make her already troubled confirmation much more difficult….
As disasters keep coming, relief groups respond in Pakistan, Guatemala
(ABP) — Rescue specialists from Hungarian Baptist Aid have joined the recovery effort in Pakistan, where the country's worst earthquake ever killed an estimated 41,000 people Oct. 8. Other Baptist organizations — including the Baptist World Alliance, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship…
Bible curriculum looks at poverty, racism in Katrina’s aftermath
ATLANTA (ABP) — A five-lesson Bible study course, published by two Baptist groups, is intended to help churches focus on poverty and racial issues that surfaced in the rubble of Hurricane Katrina. “Lessons on Poverty and Racism,” scheduled for release…
Kenyan, American students hold second joint Passport youth camp
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (ABP) — Alex Lowman, 15, didn't know if she would have anything in common with youth from Kenya. But a weeklong Passport youth camp just outside of Nairobi, Kenya, showed her the world is a smaller place than…