Texas Baptists Committed — an organization formed nearly 30 years ago in a failed effort to stop a rightward shift in the Southern Baptist Convention before successfully slowing that tide in the Baptist General Convention of Texas — is closing its doors.
Samford forfeits Baptist funds but pulls plug on student gay-straight alliance
After forfeiting $3 million a year in institutional funding from the Alabama Baptist State Convention, the president of Samford University announced he will not seek formal recognition of a student group dedicated to the discussion of LGBTQ issues and human…
Human rights and religious liberty advocate elected to lead Baptist World Alliance
The Baptist World Alliance tapped a U.S. human rights and religious liberty advocate as its new general secretary. At 36, Elijah Brown is the youngest person to lead the global organization.
Want your church to talk better about sex? This scholar’s project might help.
Baptists have consistently said two things about sex — “don’t do it, at least not until marriage” and “don’t talk about it” — a gender and sexuality scholar said last week. She thinks they can do better.
Illumination Project seeks light, not heat, on controversial issues, task force reports at CBF
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is trying to do what few if any mainstream religious bodies have been able to do — disagree about homosexuality without splitting.
Alt-right isn’t new to Christianity, says author Brian McLaren
Christians in the United States are rightly concerned about the rise of extremist groups like the alt-right, but they shouldn’t be so surprised, public theologian Brian McLaren said June 29.
Baptist organizations join letter opposing Senate health care bill
Religious groups including the American Baptist Home Mission Societies, American Baptist Churches USA, Alliance of Baptists, Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America and Progressive National Baptist Convention say the Senate replacement bill for Obamacare is bad news for people with…
LGBTQ Cooperative Baptists say the time for inclusion is now
Cooperative Baptists who identify as LGBTQ and their allies said the time is now for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship to drop its policy against hiring staff or missionaries who are openly gay on the eve of the June 28-30 CBF…
Diana Butler Bass: SBC decline dispels idea that only liberal denominations die
A scholar who specializes in American religion and culture says the Southern Baptist Convention’s loss of a million members in the last decade exposes as a false narrative the conventional wisdom that only liberal denominations decline. “If you stretch back…
Religious liberty advocates divided over Supreme Court’s Trinity Lutheran decision
Reaction varied to Monday’s Supreme Court ruling siding with a Missouri church which had been denied public money to improve a school playground. Groups including the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty called it a blow to the separation of…
Sarah Frances Anders, CBF leader and advocate for women in ministry, dies after battle with Alzheimer’s
Word has been received of the recent death of Sarah Frances Anders, a trailblazer for Southern Baptist women in ministry and past moderator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Anders, a longtime sociology professor at Louisiana College, died June 8 at…
Christian leaders call for criminal justice reform
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Executive Coordinator Suzii Paynter joined 96 other Christian leaders supporting a campaign for criminal justice reform announced June 20. Spearheaded by Prison Fellowship, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, National Association of…