By Bob Allen A North Carolina church credited with opening doors for women in ministry by ordaining the first Southern Baptist woman to the gospel ministry 50 years ago lifted its own stained-glass ceiling April 6 by choosing a female…
Diverse groups defend clergy tax break
By Bob Allen Christians, Jews, Muslims and Hindus may have different ideas about God, but they all agree on a tax break for clergy under attack by an atheist group that says it discriminates against the non-religious. Interests diverse as…
Starbucks initiative boosts Baptist work in Thailand
By Bob Allen An American Baptist missionary couple’s 25-year work to improve life among the hill tribes of Northern Thailand got a major boost when Seattle-based Starbucks opened its first Community Store outside the United States last May in Bangkok….
SBC leader says evangelicals paying price for ‘narrow vision’ of religious freedom
By Bob Allen Loss of the historic Baptist commitment to religious liberty has left U.S. evangelicals ill-prepared for current threats to the free exercise of religion, the Southern Baptist Convention’s top spokesman for moral and public policy concerns suggested April…
Tennessee Baptist school fights Obamacare
By Bob Allen Southern Baptist-affiliated Union University filed a lawsuit April 4 challenging insurance coverage of contraceptives mandated for employers by the federal Affordable Care Act. The Tennessee Baptist Convention-affiliated school in Jackson, Tenn., joined numerous secular and religious employers…
Russian, Ukrainian Baptist leaders meet in Kiev
By Bob Allen The heads of the Baptist unions in Ukraine and Russia met April 8 for the first time since a political crisis began last November putting the two nations on the brink of war. Presidents of the All-Ukrainian…
Baptist leader diagnosed with breast cancer
By Bob Allen The first woman to lead the Baptist Union of Great Britain has requested prayer after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Lynn Green, elected last year as general secretary of the 2,100-church union founded in 1832, says a…
Mohler defends exclusivity of Christ
By Bob Allen The idea that Christianity is the only saving path to God is a hard sell in a culture that increasingly celebrates religious diversity, Southern Baptist seminary President Albert Mohler told preachers gathered for this year’s Together for…
Jeb Bush to meet with Southern Baptist leader
By Bob Allen Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will meet privately next month with Southern Baptist Convention Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission President Russell Moore, the Washington Post reported April 8, an effort to reach out to evangelicals should he…
PBS examines Calvinism in SBC
By Bob Allen While other U.S. denominations face schism over homosexuality, Southern Baptists are rehashing a 17th-century debate about why a loving God would create billions of souls predestined to an eternity in hell. “I think it’s a fantastic thing,”…
Patterson urges ministers not to drink
By Bob Allen Moderate drinking and the ministry don’t mix, a Southern Baptist seminary president said in a chapel message April 2. Paige Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, said it’s just the second time…
Put popular biblical story of woman caught in adultery in footnote, says theology prof
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist pastor and seminary professor says the story of Jesus forgiving a woman caught in adultery in the Gospel of John is not in the earliest texts, belongs in a footnote and should not be…