Jonathan Merritt, an award-winning religion writer who contributes regularly to national publications including The Atlantic and The Week, has stepped down as senior columnist for Religion News Service, citing “irreconcilable differences” with his publisher and interim editor-in-chief. Merritt, son of…
Court upholds decision barring pastor/judge from death penalty cases
A three-judge panel of federal appeals court on Monday dismissed a lawsuit testing the boundary between religious liberty and judicial restraint. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that Arkansas Judge Wendell Griffen’s lawsuit challenging his disqualification from…
Donors call for investigation into trustee handling of seminary president’s firing
Two dozen major donors to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary have threatened to end their support of the Southern Baptist Convention school unless trustees right “serious wrongs” committed against its former president. Seven individuals and nine couples co-signed a June 29…
Women of faith confront immigration policy at U.S. border
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Executive Coordinator Suzii Paynter joined other female clergy this week to learn more about and advocate on behalf of families separated by U.S. immigration policy at the U.S. border with Mexico. The 11-member delegation – also including…
Baptist lawyer says Supreme Court’s weakening of labor unions is bad news for progressive causes
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday delivered a potentially serious blow to public-sector unions in a case with social-justice implications that a Baptist attorney with three decades experience representing organized labor says is below the public radar screen of most…
Pennies from heaven? Overlooked provision in Republican tax bill has churches on edge
A largely overlooked provision in a massive tax bill signed into law six months ago requires churches and other non-profits to begin paying a 21 percent tax on fringe benefits such as employee parking, according to a story broken this…
Baptist Joint Committee head ‘disappointed’ by Supreme Court decision upholding White House travel ban
The head of a Baptist religious liberty watchdog agency voiced disappointment with Tuesday’s Supreme Court decision upholding President Donald Trump’s so-called Muslim ban. “We are deeply disappointed by the Supreme Court’s refusal to repudiate policy rooted in animus against Muslims,”…
Cooperative Baptists trek to border for prayer, advocacy outside migrant child care center
A Cooperative Baptist Fellowship subsidiary organized a weekend vigil outside a former Walmart in Brownsville, Texas, re-purposed as the country’s largest migrant child care center to pray for children separated from their families while seeking asylum in the United States….
Amid #MeToo fallout, Southern Baptist males quietly leaving jobs
An official in the 2,100-church South Carolina Baptist Convention has stepped down for unspecified reasons, adding to a number of men quietly leaving Southern Baptist jobs in recent weeks. The Baptist Courier reported June 19 the resignation of Mark Aderholt,…