Debate over the morality of coercive force would be served better if everyone involved quit using the word “torture” altogether, said Daniel Heimbach, professor of Christian ethics at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. “The problem here is that in hotly debating…
Human rights and wrongs
ATLANTA — Most evangelical American Christians remained silent about torture at Abu Ghraib and Guan-tanamo for some of the same reasons European Christians 70 years ago largely failed to resist the Holocaust, ethicist David Gushee told a na-tional summit on…
Director/writer recounts making of Fireproof
EDITOR'S NOTE: Stephen Kendrick, co-writer and co-director with his brother, Alex, of the new movie Fireproof recounts the making of the film, which opened Sept. 26. DECEMBER 2005. My brother, Alex, finished a brisk morning jog that planted his running…
Fireproof makes Hollywood premiere
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (BP) — Californians who don't attend church heard the gospel in a cultural context last weekend that may have taken some off-guard. That's because Sherwood Baptist Church's latest movie, Fireproof, had its Hollywood debut Sept. 25 and presented…
Human rights rooted in Bible, not political philosophy
ATLANTA — Concern about hu-man rights means biblically grounded compassion for oppressed people — not a selfish desire to protect one's own property or prestige, Baptist ethicist Glen Stassen told the National Summit on Torture. “It has been the defenders…
Poll: On torture, evangelicals not looking to Bible
ATLANTA (ABP) — A new survey suggests the very Americans who claim to follow the Bible most assiduously don't consult it when forming their views about torture and government policy. The poll of 600 Southern white evangelicals was released in…
Remembering 9-11
NORFOLK — The young adults at Freemason Street Baptist Church in Norfolk got their hands dirty for missions at a seamen's center. Virginia Intermont College in Bristol worked with a shelter for families facing homelessness and abuse. Gayton Baptist Church…
Virginia Baptist volunteers join Texas Baptists to provide assistance after Ike
LIBERTY, Texas — Less than 72 hours after Hurricane Ike made landfall, a convoy of Virginia Baptist disaster relief units pulled into the parking lot of First Baptist Church, Liberty, Texas. By the next afternoon, Sept. 16, almost 100 Virginia…
Tortured suffer lasting effects in body & soul, experts say
ATLANTA (ABP) — Nearly two decades ago, Dianna Ortiz says, Guatemalan security forces abducted her and took her to a clandestine prison where she was gang-raped; burned more than 100 times with cigarettes; forced to cut another woman with a…