By Bob Allen The Texas Senate gave final approval May 12 to legislation protecting clergy from being forced to participate in same-sex marriage ceremonies that violate their religious beliefs. The bill, supported by the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission, now…
Midwestern Seminary adopts Danvers Statement
By Bob Allen Future professors of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary will be required to teach not only in accordance with the Southern Baptist Convention’s official faith statement, but also must affirm different but “complementary” roles for women and men in…
Baptist leader celebrates Ebola-free Liberia
By Bob Allen A Liberian Baptist leader celebrated the World Health Organization’s declaration that the country is Ebola-free, making it the first of the three hardest-hit West African nations to bring the epidemic to a formal end. “Forty-two days have…
Study says Baptists losing their market share
By Bob Allen For every American who joins a Baptist church, two others who were raised Baptist are leaving the denomination, according to a Pew Center Report released May 12. The report, America’s Changing Religious Landscape, found nearly one in five (19.2…
Former Baptist leader Winfred Moore dies
By Bob Allen Two-time failed Southern Baptist Convention presidential candidate Winfred Moore — a Texas pastor who ran on a centrist platform aimed at depoliticizing the denomination in the 1980s — died May 8 in Amarillo, Texas. He was 95. Moore, pastor…
Religious groups vow to break D.C. anti-discrimination law
By Bob Allen Anti-abortion groups with offices in Washington, D.C., — including the Southern Baptist Convention’s public-policy arm — have vowed to defy a new city ordinance barring discriminating against women based on their reproductive health choices. Hours after the U.S. Senate…
Evidence released against Baptist minister charged with murder
By Bob Allen A Baptist minister’s wife murdered in her Alabama home in July 2013 knew about her husband’s secret homosexual orientation and romantic relationships with out-of-state paramours, according to a court document filed May 6. Prosecutors also claim Richard…
Critics say National Day of Prayer divides Americans by faith
By Bob Allen Today’s National Day of Prayer is a constitutionally suspect government endorsement of religion that ought to be abandoned, according to Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “The government should not be giving out prayer instructions,”…
Central Seminary seeks to foster racial reconciliation
By Bob Allen A pastor and seminary professor who organized a peaceful prayer response in Kansas City prior to the grand jury decision in Ferguson, Mo., last November is now recruiting communities of faith to host “prayer tables” intended to…