VALLEY FORGE, Pa. (ABP) — American Baptists plan to tap both international relief efforts and local churches with strong ties to the Haitian-American community in responding to human suffering caused by the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti. The Cooperative Baptist…
Religious Right leader defends Robertson’s Haiti comment
VISTA, Calif. (ABP) — As several religious leaders criticized Pat Robertson's comments blaming Haiti's massive Jan. 12 earthquake on a pact supposedly made by its people with the devil, one came out to defend him. Gary Cass, chairman and CEO…
OPINION: Pat Robertson, Haiti and the devil
(ABP) — Is God punishing Haiti for worshiping the devil? Pat Robertson claims that Haiti’s founders, 200 years ago, made a pact with Satan for which the island's 9.7 million inhabitants are now facing the wrath of God in the…
Social-studies-curriculum debate in Texas has national implications
AUSTIN, Texas (ABP) — Citizens debated the role of religion in society — and particularly of Christianity in American history — as the Texas State Board of Education held a public hearing Jan. 13 on new standards for social-studies curricula…
Baptists respond to Haiti earthquake
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (ABP) — Baptist World Aid has pledged $20,000 in emergency funds for earthquake-stricken Haiti, the head of the relief-and-development arm of the Baptist World Alliance said Jan. 13. A United Nations official said mid-morning Jan. 13 that…
Update: Baptists prep for immediate, long-term responses to Haiti quake
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (ABP) — Baptist groups in the United States began gearing up Jan. 13 for both immediate and long-term responses to the earthquake that killed thousands in Port-au-Prince, the capital and largest city of the impoverished Caribbean nation…
Baptists prep for immediate, long-term responses to Haiti quake
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (ABP) — Baptist groups in the United States began gearing up Jan. 13 for both immediate and long-term responses to the earthquake that killed thousands in Port-au-Prince, the capital and largest city of the impoverished Caribbean nation…
Florida Baptists will lead initial SBC disaster relief response in Haiti
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Southern Baptists are mobilizing to assess disaster relief needs after the largest earthquake in more than 200 years rocked Haiti the evening of Jan. 12. The initial Southern Baptist disaster relief effort will be led by Florida…
New statement ‘first-ever consensus’ on religious expression and U.S. law
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A diverse group of leaders who often find themselves on opposite sides of the contentious battles at the intersection of church and state joined forces Jan. 12 to unveil an unprecedented consensus statement aimed at advancing public…
Young preachers flock to Louisville for preaching festival
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) — "How shall they hear without a preacher?" the apostle Paul asked in Romans 10:14. For Dwight Moody, head of the Academy of Preachers, the question is as valid today as ever. Moody, former dean of the…
Trial under way for former Baptist preacher charged with murder
WACO, Texas (ABP) — Jury selection got under way Jan. 12 in a murder trial of a former Baptist minister accused of killing his wife. Matt Baker, as he appeared in his booking photo last March. Matt Baker, 38, a…
Document offers guidelines for religion in the public square
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A diverse group of religious and secular leaders unveiled a joint statement Jan. 12 aimed at advancing public understanding about legal rights and limitations on religious expression in the public square. Led by Wake Forest University Divinity…