JACKSON, Tenn. (BP) — Southern Baptist Convention President Frank Page called for Southern Baptist churches to give generously to Union University as the campus seeks to recover from more than $40 million in damages sustained in a Feb. 5 tornado….
Senate bars abortion funds on reservations
WASHINGTON (BP) — The U.S. Senate voted Feb. 26 to prohibit federal funding for abortion as part of an Indian health care bill. Senators approved the amendment 52-42. The Senate approved the overall bill, the Indian Health Care Improvement Act,…
Abstinence pact means AIDS relief bill back on track
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A bill that would more than triple the amount of money the United States spends combating the AIDS pandemic got a boost Feb. 27 with a compromise over abstinence-focused prevention efforts and abortion. House leaders and White…
Wilberforce documentary to air on PBS
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) — One year after the movie Amazing Grace reintroduced America to William Wilberforce, a new documentary about the famous Christian abolitionist seeks to shed more light on the British man whose fight against slavery inspired Abraham Lincoln…
Obama says he’ll use ‘bully pulpit’ to encourage same-sex marriage
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama sought the support of voters in the homosexual community Feb. 28, telling them in a letter that if elected president he would work to pass laws important to that constituency and…
Obama speech spurs IRS investigation
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A speech that Barack Obama made last year to his fellow Congregationalists has spurred an Internal Revenue Service investigation that threatens the tax-exempt status of an entire denomination. Leaders of the Illinois senator's United Church of Christ…
Huckabee endorsement bring IRS investigation
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Outspoken California pastor and former Southern Baptist Convention officer Wiley Drake is being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service. The candidate for the SBC presidency this year is under scrutiny for using his church letterhead and church-sponsored…
Specter moves to allow churches to show Super Bowl
WASHINGTON (RNS) — Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Commitee, plans to introduce legislation to allow churches to show the Super Bowl on widescreen televisions, just as bars do now. “There's absolutely no reason why…
Regain respect by rejecting exclusion, Grisham urges Baptists
ATLANTA (ABP) — The name “Baptist” is not widely respected in America “because for so long so many Baptists have worked so hard to exclude so many,” best-selling author and Baptist layman John Grisham said Jan. 31. Grisham told a…
SECOND OPINION: Torture is the bone caught in America’s throat
It is clear to me that the problem of torture is like a bone caught in our national throat. We can't swallow it, but we can't quite spit it out. And so we are choking on it. The sound of…
SECOND OPINION: Politics through Lenten eyes
The so-called “Christian vote” is making its quadrennial appearance in election coverage, as if “Christians” were a voting bloc that debated candidates' religious credentials and cast a unified vote for the candidate deemed most compatible with the gospel. Reality, of…
Keep it accurate
I appreciate the energy and the earnestness of the Religious Herald, but I occasionally feel that writers are claiming biblical points that may be kind but not biblical. I don't want to sound like I am against kindness but I…