The city council in Charlotte, N.C., passed an ordinance Feb. 22 to prevent businesses from discriminating against LGBT customers, setting the stage for a battle with the Republican-controlled state legislature. Council members voted 7-4 in favor of a measure expanding…
In the wake of Flint, Baptist Peace Fellowship calls for water justice
The Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America released a statement Feb. 24 on the recent water crisis in Flint, Mich., urging peace-loving Baptists to advocate not only for the people of Flint but also for others dealing with water crises…
Charlotte approves measure to halt LGBT discrimination
By Bob Allen The city council in Charlotte, N.C., passed an ordinance Feb. 22 to prevent businesses from discriminating against LGBT customers, setting the stage for a battle with the Republican-controlled state legislature. Council members voted 7-4 in favor of…
IMB regains financial footing, president says
More than enough Southern Baptist Convention missionaries and International Mission Board staff accepted incentives to step down voluntarily to balance the IMB budget without any forced termination of overseas personnel, board president David Platt announced Feb. 24. Addressing IMB trustees…
SBC boots church for allowing pastor to officiate gay wedding
A representative body authorized to act on behalf of the Southern Baptist Convention between annual meetings voted Feb. 23 to remove a South Carolina church for allowing its pastor to conduct a same-sex wedding. The SBC Executive Committee, an 83-member…
Preaching expert James Cox dies
Baptist professor James W. Cox, recognized as a leading authority on preaching and one of the most influential teachers in the field of homiletics, died Feb. 21 in Louisville, Ky. He was 93. Cox, author and editor of dozens of…
BJC’s Walker says Scalia was no friend of religious liberty
Justice Antonin Scalia will be remembered as a towering figure on the U.S. Supreme Court for his intellect and his wit but not as a friend to religious liberty and the separation of church and state, a Baptist church-state expert…
BJC’s Walker says Scalia was no friend of religious liberty
By Bob Allen Justice Antonin Scalia will be remembered as a towering figure on the U.S. Supreme Court for his intellect and his wit but not as a friend to religious liberty and the separation of church and state,…
First black SBC president talks race, Obama
Fred Luter, immediate past president of the predominantly white Southern Baptist Convention, says he mistakenly believed the nation had turned a corner when it elected a black president. The first African-American president of the Southern Baptist Convention says he believes…
Southern Baptists testify at Texas hearing on religious liberty
Southern Baptists in Texas were well represented at a Texas Senate hearing on how to protect religious liberty that critics say was in reality more about finding ways to discriminate against gays and lesbians. Southern Baptists in Texas need stronger…
BJC supports contraceptive mandate accommodation in Supreme Court brief
Far-reaching arguments made by some religious nonprofits against an accommodation procedure can endanger religious liberty, according to a brief filed at the U.S. Supreme Court by the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and professor Douglas Laycock of the University…
Georgia clergy oppose First Amendment Defense Act
For the second year in a row, religious leaders are lining up on both sides of controversies over bills labeled “religious liberty” measures that critics say mask a hidden agenda of discrimination against gays and lesbians. A Cooperative Baptist Fellowship…