(ABP) — When evangelist Billy Graham, social activist Jim Wallis, pastor Rick Warren, theologian Al Mohler and author Brian McLaren all can fit under the umbrella term “evangelical,” some theological and cultural observers wonder if the term has lost its…
Moderate Baptists uneasy about evangelical baggage
(ABP) — Are supporters of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Mainstream Baptist groups evangelicals? The answer is yes and no. Formed in reaction to the Southern Baptist Convention’s shift to the far right in the late 1980s and early 1990s, both…
Definitions of ‘evangelical’ vary
(ABP) — The National Association of Evangelicals and Christian researcher George Barna offer two definitions of the term "evangelical." The National Association of Evangelicals has a seven-point statement of faith. Members affirm they believe: • The Bible is the inspired,…
Congregations struggle to become diverse, retain diversity
WACO, Texas (ABP) — More than a half-century after Martin Luther King Jr., declared 11 a.m. on Sunday the most segregated hour in America, nine in 10 congregations still have a single racial group that accounts for more than 80 percent…
California Baptists advise churches to add marriage definition to bylaws
FRESNO, Calif. (ABP) — The California Southern Baptist Convention is offering advice that churches revise their bylaws to anticipate possible changes in the legal definition of marriage. An article on the convention website advises that "a simple bylaw amendment can…
LifeWay background-check service finds hundreds of felonies
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — Discounted criminal-background checks offered by LifeWay Christian Resources found more than 600 felony offenses in checks for the 900-plus churches and organizations that have purchased the service in its first two years. Since contracting with backgroundchecks.com…
Who are evangelicals? Some wonder if the term has lost its meaning
When evangelist Billy Graham, social activist Jim Wallis, pastor Rick Warren, theologian Al Mohler and author Brian McLaren all can fit under the umbrella term “evangelical,” some theological and cultural observers wonder if the term has lost its meaning. And…
Definitions of “evangelical” vary
The National Association of Evangelicals has a seven-point statement of faith. Members affirm they believe: • The Bible is the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative word of God. • There is one God, eternally existent in three persons—Father, Son and…
Moderate Baptists uneasy about evangelical political baggage
Are Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Mainstream Baptists evangelicals? The answer is yes and no. Formed in reaction to the Southern Baptist Convention’s shift to the far right in the late 1980s and early 1990s, both the CBF and Mainstream focus…
New poll finds large overlap in Religious Right, Tea Party
WASHINGTON (ABP) – A new poll suggests that, contrary to some media characterizations, the Tea Party movement has significant overlap with the Religious Right and the Republican Party. The third biennial American Values Survey, released by the Public Religion Research…
Justices struggle with free-speech limits in arguments over church
WASHINGTON (ABP) — The justices of the Supreme Court struggled Oct. 6 over where to draw the line between freedom of highly unpopular speech and the freedom of a dead soldier’s family to mourn in private. The high court heard…
Mohler criticizes Nobel selection of in-vitro-fertilization inventor
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) — A Southern Baptist theologian is criticizing the selection of a British biologist who pioneered the technology of in vitro fertilization as winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize in medicine. Cambridge University professor Robert Edwards is winner of…