DES MOINES, Iowa (ABP) — Iowa will soon join the ranks of states that allow same-sex marriage, thanks to a unanimous April 3 ruling by the state’s highest court. The Iowa Supreme Court said a law limiting marriage to heterosexual…
Songwriter William Reynolds dies
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — William Reynolds, author of popular hymns including Share His Love and People to People, died March 28. Reynolds, 88, worked 25 years in the church music department of the Baptist Sunday School Board of the Southern…
Culture war without end
By David Gushee Over the last ten years I have written two books and countless articles in which I suggested and hoped that the culture war between cultural conservatives and cultural liberals would — and should — end. I now…
Southern Baptist activist organizes confab on church and environment
ATLANTA (ABP) — An upcoming national conference on churches and the environment features several well-known evangelical speakers, including some prominent Southern Baptist leaders who will be speaking for first time on the increasingly high-profile theological issue known as "creation care."…
Presidential prayer effort proves to be bipartisan
WASHINGTON (RNS)—A national grassroots network that came together after the 9/11 terrorist attacks for the sole purpose of praying for the president has lost more than 25,000 members since Barack Obama’s election last November. But more than 41,000 new members…
Death penalty opponents hope book about Texas case can help put an end to executions
NEW YORK (RNS)—Religious opponents of the death penalty hope a new book about a Texas death row case by a best-selling author can help their efforts to end the practice of state-sanctioned executions. Thomas Cahill’s just-published book, A Saint on…
Do churchgoers like Web porn? Not on Sunday, study reveals
BOSTON (ABP)—According to a new study, people who live in states with high church-attendance rates buy as much Internet pornography as their more secularized counterparts—but they are less likely to subscribe to an adult website on Sundays. Researcher Benjamin Edelman…
Ministries offer help for Christians with porn addiction
FRESNO, Calif. (RNS)—Every February, SouthPoint Foursquare Church reminds young members that “True Love Waits,” as part of a global campaign launched by Southern Baptists that stresses abstinence until marriage. A few days after Valentine’s Day this year, 80 teenagers and…
American Muslims a diverse group
WASHINGTON—Muslims in America attend worship services weekly just as much as Protestant Americans. Among the nation’s faith groups, they are the most racially diverse. And they’re younger: more than a third of Muslim adults—36 percent—are between ages 18 and 29,…