As protests spread across the country over President Trump’s executive order banning travelers from seven Muslim-majority states from entering the United States, prominent Baptists joined other religious voices speaking out in opposition. Amanda Tyler, the new executive director of the…
Missing Burmese pastors in police custody
Two Burmese Baptist pastors missing since Christmas Eve are in police custody and face prison if convicted under a law banning “unlawful association” left over from the era of British colonial rule. The Irrawaddy, a website founded in 1990 by…
Tea Party politician tells Trump opponents to ‘harness their fear’
A Tea Party activist elected as Kentucky’s first African-American lieutenant governor told students at a Baptist university that Christians fearful of the Trump administration are getting a taste of how many conservatives felt under eight years of President Obama. “I…
Tennessee GOP leader moves ‘upstream’ to ERLC
The executive director of Tennessee Republican Party has taken a new job with the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. The Tennessean newspaper in Nashville, Tenn., reported Jan. 25 the hiring of Brent Leatherwood as the…
Baptist columnist says Trump should abandon two-state plan for Israel
An opinion writer for a Kentucky Baptist Convention website says President Trump should move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and abandon hopes for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Mark Wohlander, an attorney and…
Trump signs orders supporting controversial oil pipelines
President Donald Trump signed executive acts Jan. 24 to advance construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, reversing Obama administration environmental policies. The order hands a potential defeat to clergy who stood last year with Native American tribes protesting…
IMB trustee resigns over New Jersey mosque flap
A trustee of the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board has resigned in protest of the agency’s participation in a legal brief last year supporting construction of a New Jersey mosque. The IMB and SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission…
Baptist voices join Trump protestors in women’s marches
A protest movement that began with a grandmother in Hawaii and manufacturing entrepreneur in New York City meeting on Facebook the night after Donald Trump’s surprise election hit the ground Jan. 21, fueled by more than 2 million people around…
Religious groups say public restrooms should be segregated by sex, not gender identity
The Southern Baptist Convention joined Catholic, Jewish, Mormon and other religious groups in a recent brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a lower court decision allowing transgender students in public schools to use the restroom of their choice…
Controversial Southern Baptist preaches Inauguration Day sermon
Donald Trump’s Inauguration Day kicked off with controversy over a Southern Baptist preacher selected to preach at a private prayer service for the president-elect and his family shortly before taking the oath of office. Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist…
Baptists among faith leaders to watch in 2017
Baptists rank high in a dozen faith leaders to watch in 2017 identified by the Center for American Progress, a progressive public policy research and advocacy organization founded in 2003 as an alternative to conservative think tanks such as the…
Baptist minister unlikely advocate for transgender community
A Cooperative Baptist Fellowship pastor and contributing columnist to Baptist News Global described 768 words that transformed his ministry in a TEDx Talk presentation now available online. Mark Wingfield, associate pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, spoke in November at…