I found it very interesting to read all the publicity about Baptist history in the Jan. 15 issue of the Religious Herald—do we date from early Christianity, or just 400 years or so ago, or somewhere in between? In the…
VIRGINIA BAPTIST FORUM: Plight of pastors’ wives
Now that Christmas has come and gone, I want to get down to writing this reply to your last letter from your Aunt Ida [“The wisdom of a contented pastor's wife,” Herald, Dec. 4]. This particular letter is about the…
New statute raises concerns
In addition to the fact that I find incorrect “facts” in Professor Stephen Strehle's article [“The need for a new religious freedom statute,” Herald, Dec. 18], I am very surprised that the Herald published it. The Baptist paper of Virginia,…
VIRGINIA BAPTIST FORUM: Print edition rises to challenge
I enjoyed the Religious Herald edition dated Jan. 15 immensely. It was informative. The information was brought together in a way that would be difficult to quickly access on the internet. The photographs served to illustrate the text well. All…
News about Virginia Baptists and their ministries for January 29, 2009
MISSIONS MOMENTA mission team from Fairview Baptist Church in Fredericksburg participated in the Noah Project in New Orleans in late October. The team worked on several homes–painting, putting down flooring, restoring a bathroom, hanging doors, installing kitchen cabinets and other…
Baptists celebrate past with an eye to the future
In 400 years, the Baptist movement has grown to 200,000 churches with more than 50 million members in countries around the world. But even though Baptists globally continue to show statistical growth, the largest Baptist group in the United States…
How to celebrate in the future?
As Baptists plan 400th anniversary celebrations, Bob Dale, author and recently retired associate executive director of the Baptist General Association of Virginia, suggests they think ahead to the kind of celebration they want to have a generation from now. Casting…
Baptist influence on history of U.S., world a mixed bag, historians say
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Baptists' signal contribution to American and world history and political thought, historians almost unanimously agree, is their uncompromising emphasis on religious liberty. But, they hasten to add, the doctrine of soul freedom that grounds Baptists' belief in…
Wide variety of Baptists found in 111th Congress
WASHINGTON (ABP) — The various Baptist churches represented in the incoming 111th Congress are emblematic of America's broad array of Baptists. There are 66 self-identified Baptists in the new Congress, according to a study by the Pew Forum on Religion…
Patterns in denominationalism
With approximately 35 million members and over fifty distinct groups in the United States, Baptists make up the largest and the most diverse American Protestant tradition. This diversity may partly be attributed to theological differences, dissimilarities in worship styles, and…
Virginia pastor’s research sheds new light on old Baptist controversy
RICHMOND — The struggle between moderates and fundamentalists for control of the Southern Baptist Convention from 1979 into the early 1990s is often called “the controversy.” Yet it was really just the latest controversy. In 1899, William Heth Whitsitt (1841-1911),…
Religious abuse continues in Iraq, commission says
WASHINGTON (RNS) — Iraq should be designated as a “country of particular concern” because its government tolerates the abuse of religious communities, according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. The federal commission said many Iraqi religious minorities —…