RICHMOND, Va. — There's a scene from the Oscar-winning film Precious — the story of a black teenager sexually abused by her father but trying to change her life by going to school — where she tells her class that…
Obama meets with Billy Graham
MONTREAT, N.C. (ABP) — President Obama met Billy Graham for the first time face-to-face April 25, making him the 12th consecutive U.S. president to meet with the famed Southern Baptist evangelist. Obama stopped by Graham's mountaintop home in Montreat, N.C.,…
Missouri Baptist Convention releases newspaper from lawsuit
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (ABP) — Attorneys for the Missouri Baptist Convention have voluntarily released the organization's former official news journal from a long-running lawsuit against several agencies that removed themselves from convention control. Word & Way, the historic Missouri Baptist…
Cecil Sherman ‘stood on a higher hill’
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (ABP) — A self-described "comrade in arms" in the Southern Baptist Convention controversy in the 1980s remembered Cecil Sherman as one who "stood on a higher hill" than other moderate Baptist leaders. "Cecil Sherman was right more times…
Cecil Sherman ‘stood on a higher hill’ than his contemporaries, speaker says
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (ABP) — A self-described “comrade in arms” in the Southern Baptist Convention controversy in the 1980s remembered Cecil Sherman as one who “stood on a higher hill” than other moderate Baptist leaders. “Cecil Sherman was right more times…
Deep water dilemma: Can Baptists agree on baptism?
“Other denominations certainly have tended to see it [believer’s baptism by immersion] as what set Baptists apart. For centuries, it has been the most obvious answer to the question: What makes Baptists different?” said James Leo Garrett, distinguished professor emeritus…
Churches try varied ways to approach question of membership and baptism
RICHMOND, Va. (ABP) — Baptism and local church membership have been inextricably linked historically in the minds of many Baptists. But that view is shifting as a decline in denominational loyalty and the easy movement of American Christians among churches…
What happens when Baptists cannot agree about baptism?
DALLAS (ABP) — If Baptists — in all their diversity — cannot agree on baptism, some theologians wonder what is left to unite them. "Other denominations certainly have tended to see it (believer’s baptism by immersion) as what set Baptists…
Obama administration to appeal ruling against National Day of Prayer
WASHINGTON (ABP) — The U.S. Justice Department announced April 22 it would appeal a federal court ruling that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional. White House attorneys filed a notice of appeal in U.S. District Court for western Wisconsin challenging…
Ky. high court strikes down public funding of Baptist pharmacy school
FRANKFORT, Ky. (ABP) — The Kentucky Supreme Court ruled April 22 that Baptist-affiliated University of the Cumberlands cannot use $10 million of taxpayer money to build a pharmacy school. The high court said the funds, appropriated by the Kentucky General…
ANALYSIS: Baptism — essential sacrament or symbolic ordinance?
One of the distinguishing marks of the people of God called Baptists, across our 400 years of witness, has been our strong affirmation of believer’s baptism, which is rooted in our high view of Christ’s authority in Scripture. When Jesus…
Let ’em ring: Federal court says church bells are legal religious expression
WASHINGTON (RNS) — A federal court on April 19 ruled an ordinance in Phoenix, Ariz., trying to limit the sound of church bells is an unconstitutional impingement on religious expression. In 2007, one day after Christ the King Cathedral moved…