UPDATE: Plainview police released a statement April 6 indicating the cause of death was suicide. By Bob Allen Police are investigating the death of a student in a residence hall on the campus of Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, Texas….
BJC releases statement on RFRA legislation in Indiana and Arkansas
By Bob Allen The head of a Baptist group that specializes in religious liberty said today he does not support controversial bills pitting religious conservatives against supporters of gay marriage in Arkansas and Indiana. J. Brent Walker, executive director of…
Baptist ministers oppose tax break for ‘Ark Park’
By Bob Allen Four Kentucky taxpayers — two of them Baptist ministers — say giving tourism tax credits to a Christian ministry building an amusement park featuring a life-sized Noah’s Ark would effectively compel them to subsidize a religious ministry against their…
Southern Baptist ethics czar defends Indiana religious liberty bill on MSNBC
By Bob Allen In an interview March 30 on national television, the Southern Baptist Convention’s top expert on public policy denounced corporate boycott threats over Indiana’s new religious freedom law as “a confluence of sexual libertarianism and crony capitalism” attempting…
End death penalty, say top faith leaders — including Baptists
By Bob Allen Moderate and progressive Baptists joined nearly 400 Catholic and evangelical leaders issuing a Holy Week call to end the use of the death penalty in the United States. “We urge governors, prosecutors, judges and anyone entrusted with power…
Supreme Court won’t force NYC to allow after-hours worship in public schools
By Bob Allen The United States Supreme Court refused March 30 to hear a case challenging a New York City policy of not allowing churches to worship in public schools. The high court declined without comment to review an April…
Cal Baptist women’s tournament run comes up one game short
By Bob Allen In just their second season after moving up to the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the California Baptist University women’s basketball Lancers were Cinderella in this year’s NCAA Division II championship tournament. Unranked going into the tournament and…
Former CLC staffer David Lockard dies
By Bob Allen David Lockard, a Southern Baptist missionary who established the first Baptist seminary in Central Africa before heading up race relations and world hunger awareness for the Southern Baptist Christian Life Commission, died March 14 at age 89….
Racially segregated churches ‘blasphemy,’ SBC leader says
By Bob Allen Ethics head Russell Moore told 550 people at a conference March 26 he believes God is giving the Southern Baptist Convention a second chance to atone for its racist past, but “in order to do that we…