(ABP) — A Southern Baptist camp in Illinois plans to host a National Rifle Association pistol course intended to help participants qualify for permits under the state’s newly passed concealed-carry law. The eight-hour course is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 7,…
What is Shariah and why do states like North Carolina want to ban it? A guide to the complex concept
(RNS) — North Carolina lawmakers approved a bill July 24 to prohibit judges from considering “foreign laws” in their decisions, but nearly everyone agrees that “foreign laws” really means Shariah, or Islamic law. North Carolina now joins six other states…
Baptist Joint Committee names recent graduate as education, outreach specialist
(ABP) — Recent McAfee School of Theology graduate Charles Watson Jr. has been named education and outreach specialist for the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. A native of Millen, Ga., Watson previously worked as children’s director at Buckhead Baptist…
Practical joke backfires at Baptist camp in Maryland as five are sent to hospital
JERRETTSVILLE, Md. (ABP) — Five people were taken to a hospital and multiple medical units were dispatched to a Maryland Baptist campground in a hazardous materials incident that resulted from a prank. The July 23 incident at Camp Wo-Me-To near…
Seeking to give all, mission volunteer in Romania returns home unexpectedly filled, she says
Michelle Sloan had never been on a mission trip until this summer, when she spent two months in Romania. A special education major at Grove City College, a Christian liberal arts college in Grove City, Pa., Sloan was participating in…
WINN RECOMMENDS: Books that matter
Resurrection Year, by Sheridan Voysey (Thomas Nelson) After long, agonizing rounds of IVF and with no pregnancy to show for it, Sheridan and Merryn Voysey recognized that their hope for a child would not be realized. Voysey tells their…
Removal of song from a hymnal because of reference to an atonement theory is drawing the ire of some
(ABP) — The wrath of God has become a point of contention since news broke that a new Presbyterian hymnal passed on the popular title In Christ Alone for theological reasons. “Why do many Christians shrink from any thought of…
Aging pushes some churches to fiscal brink, others to find creative solutions
(ABP) — Survival is a question thousands of American churches confront each year. Estimates of annual church closures range from 3,500 to 7,000. That’s likely to increase as younger generations, including the rise of the “nones,” increasingly avoid organized religion….
ERLC defends sectarian public prayer in legal brief filed with Supreme Court
(ABP) — The Southern Baptist Convention Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court Aug. 2 defending prayers offered in Jesus’ name at government meetings. The first legal brief filed since Russell Moore took…