By Bob Allen When Raimundo Barreto, director of the Baptist World Alliance division of freedom and justice, was in Vietnam a couple of years ago, a government official initially was suspicious of him. Then the official spotted a copy of…
Trial gets underway for accused pastor
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist pastor charged with sex crimes stands trial this week in a county court in California, Mo. Travis Smith, pastor of First Baptist Church of Stover, Mo., faces felony charges of sodomy and statutory rape…
CBF leader: Advocacy can unite Baptists
By Bob Allen Baptists of different stripes can multiply their influence and foster reconciliation by working together to advocate on behalf of others in the public square, the newest member of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s leadership team said at the…
Obama lauds Baptist civil-rights icon
By Bob Allen President Obama noted the passing of T.J. Jemison, a civil-rights icon who organized a 1953 bus boycott in Baton Rouge, La., that became the non-violent protest model adopted by Martin Luther King two years later in Montgomery,…
Trial date nears in slain pastor lawsuit
By Bob Allen The widow of a Southern Baptist pastor fatally shot during a botched 2009 drug sting has asked that prospective jurors be polled about pretrial publicity of an incident that divided a small north Georgia community as the…
Gay couple fined 1 cent for trespassing
By Bob Allen A gay Baptist minister arrested in January for refusing to leave a county clerk’s office that denied him and his partner a marriage license was convicted Nov. 26 of trespassing and fined a penny for the crime….
Hearing held in Glorieta lawsuit
By Bob Allen A federal judge in New Mexico has removed 113 individuals from a lawsuit against two Southern Baptist Convention agencies challenging the recent sale of Glorieta Conference Center named in subpoenas that convention lawyers say were improperly served….
Supreme Court to hear Hobby Lobby case
By Bob Allen The Supreme Court agreed Nov. 26 to accept cases challenging mandated contraception coverage in the health care reform law known as Obamacare. Justices announced they would hear cases with plaintiffs including Hobby Lobby, the Oklahoma-based arts-and-crafts retailer…
Court strikes down clergy tax break
Editor’s note: This story was edited after posting to correct an error in the final paragraph. By Bob Allen A federal judge said Nov. 23 that an IRS rule allowing clergy to avoid paying taxes on a part of their…