Meeting in North Carolina April 27-29, members of the Alliance of Baptists called on affiliated churches to engage in “political activism grounded in a compassionate theology” in opposition to laws restricting access to public gender-segregated restrooms and other facilities based…
Alliance Baptists protest ‘fake’ N.C. bathroom bill repeal
Representatives of a progressive Baptist group that decided last year to protest rather than boycott North Carolina’s controversial “bathroom bill” said April 28 the so-called repeal of HB2 may have helped the state’s economy but does nothing to protect people…
Seminary professors’ rapper photo roils social media
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has apologized for a photo which has circulated on Twitter of five white faculty members posing as black gang members. The photo has been criticized as racist.
AWAB leader among clergy, groups, speaking up for fired transgender mortician
The chair-elect of the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists joined 74 other faith leaders and religious and civil-rights organizations in a legal brief filed April 24 supporting a former transgender funeral home employee in Michigan who claimed she was…
Baptist pastor says faith-based adoption agencies shouldn’t discriminate against gays
The pastor of a Texas Baptist church which recently went on record as welcoming and affirming of gays has opposed pending legislation to allow faith-based adoption and foster care agencies to refuse to place children with same-sex couples. In testimony…
Baptist group joins call to deny funding for border wall
The Alliance of Baptists was among 80 national and local faith-based organizations joining in a letter April 24 urging Congress to refuse to fund a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border proposed by President Donald Trump. With Congress facing an April…
Former state exec sues NAMB for libel, interference in business relationships
A former Baptist state convention leader who claimed last year his firing was orchestrated by the head of a Southern Baptist Convention agency has filed a defamation lawsuit alleging, among other things, his picture was displayed at the welcome desk…
As high court hears arguments, BJC lawyer said Missouri church not entitled to taxpayer support
A Baptist church/state specialist said after oral arguments April 20 the U.S. Supreme Court should rule against a Missouri church seeking state aid to make its playground safer, citing Baptist history when colonial dissenters objected to paying taxes to support…
Judge disputes claims that his death penalty protest violated judicial impartiality
An Arkansas judge who also serves as a Baptist pastor defended his participation in a death penalty protest after issuing a court order barring the state from using an execution drug, saying his ruling on facts in a property dispute had…
Former minister to get passport back after murder charge dropped
More than three years after being pulled out of line by Homeland Security at Nashville International Airport while waiting to board a flight to Germany and being told he was wanted for murder, former Southern Baptist minister Richard Shahan can…
Texas Baptist convention aligns with groups seeking to limit abortion
The Baptist General Convention of Texas joined the Texans for Life Coalition, Texas Alliance for Life and Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops in an April 18 press conference voicing support for 15 bills before the state House and Senate seeking…
Jamaican Baptist becomes oldest living human
A 117-year-old Jamaican Baptist woman is now the world’s oldest human, according to the Gerontology Research Group. With Saturday’s death of Italian Emma Morano, born in 1899 and the last survivor from the 19th century, Violet Mosse-Brown became the oldest…