Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s pastor has joined the Faith Advisory Council of his opponent, Sen. John Cornyn. After a tough primary campaign that will be settled by a runoff election in May, the Cornyn campaign announced formation of the…
What can we learn from First Baptist Orlando?
A story BNG first reported more than three weeks ago came to a disheartening conclusion Sunday, March 8, when Chris Ogden resigned as campus pastor for First Baptist Church of Orlando’s Horizon West campus. Ogden, who by all accounts was…
Evangelical leaders return to Oval Office to pray over Trump
In what has become an annual ritual, evangelical leaders gathered around President Donald Trump in the Oval Office March 5 and prayed over him and for U.S. success in the war against Iran. The photo-op prayer time was organized by…
Judge blocks DeSantis order against Muslim organizations
A federal judge has blocked enforcement of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ order that designates two Muslim groups as terrorist organizations. Last December, DeSantis followed the lead of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and designated the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the…
Two pastors advance in Texas primaries
Religion played a key role in midterm primaries in Texas March 3. A Presbyterian seminarian secured the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate and will face either the incumbent, John Cornyn, a member of the Churches of Christ, or Ken Paxton,…
The Iran bombing is a religion story for all but one person
When the United States and Israel bombed Iran Feb. 28, the motivations and repercussions were religious as well as political. We cannot think of Iran as a modern state unhinged from its religious moorings. And we cannot think of President…
Black Church urged to tell its story fully and boldly
The Black Church is not a single story but is a tapestry of stories that must be heard in context, speakers said at the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference Feb. 23-26 in Chicago. In session after session, speakers returned to the…
Giving to BGCT dropped 17% in a decade, following national trends
The Baptist General Convention of Texas has experienced a 17% drop in Cooperative Program income in the past decade, Treasurer and CFO Ward Hayes told the state convention’s Executive Board Feb. 23. Earlier in that meeting, BGCT Executive Director Julio…
US LGBTQ identification holds steady at 9%
About 9% of American adults identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual, according to Gallup. That percentage is unchanged from last year but remains more than double the 3.5% from 2012, the first year Gallup measured…
SBC president endorses bill that would allow death penalty for abortions
The president of the Southern Baptist Convention appears to have endorsed proposed legislation in Tennessee that would impose the death penalty on women who have abortions. Clint Pressley, pastor of a church in Charlotte, N.C., weighed in on social media…
Mohler praises Trump for ‘moral clarity’ in State of the Union
Southern Baptist thought leader Al Mohler agrees with President Donald Trump that Democrats are “crazy.” The president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary used his Feb. 25 column in World magazine to say the president’s rambling two-hour State of the Union…
Foley: Greed is the root of racism
Greed is the root cause of racism, Malcolm Foley told the “Compassion and Justice” conference Feb. 21. Foley serves as special advisor to Baylor University President Linda Livingstone and as co-pastor of Mosaic Church in Waco, Texas. He is the…