HOUSTON (ABP) — George and Novice Bruner’s Christmas list includes the names of more than 200 needy Houston children. George and Novice Bruner of Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston have given more than 40,000 gifts to about 4,000 children over…
Christmas Around the World: Global Baptists celebrate the holiday
The 180-member Suwon Central Baptist Church sanctuary choir, a 60-voice women’s choir and the 60-member children’s choir presented the music of Christmas. (ABP) — Christmas in the United States is both a secular and sacred holiday. There’s the hustle…
Evangelical leaders support abortion compromise in health-care plan
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Thirty-nine pro-life Christian pastors and leaders released a statement Dec. 18 applauding alternative language aimed at preventing health-care reform from being derailed by debate over abortion. With bill supporters in the Senate lacking a filibuster-proof majority to…
Appeals court allows suit over Ky. Baptist institution to proceed
CINCINNATI (ABP) — The full 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined Dec. 16 to review the August ruling of a three-judge panel allowing a case challenging taxpayer funding of a Baptist children's home to move forward. Sunrise Children's Services,…
N.C. judge strikes down law banning sex offenders from church
PITTSBORO, N.C. (ABP) — A North Carolina judge has ruled in favor of two registered sex offenders arrested in May for attending a Baptist church near Raleigh. Francis Demaio and James Nichols were indicted May 11 for violating a state…
Study says majority of world’s population faces religious restriction
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Nearly 70 percent of the world's 6.8 billion people live in countries with high restrictions on religion, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life. Titled Global Restrictions on…
Day with a legend: Belmont students meet Baptist activist Will Campbell
Belmont University students pose with Will Campbell outside his cabin in Mt. Juliet, Tenn. MT. JULIET, Tenn. (ABP) — Religion majors at Belmont University ended their semester on a high note Dec. 14, visiting and chatting with legendary Baptist civil-rights…
Oklahoma company debuts funds that keep faith with Christian investors
OKLAHOMA CITY (ABP) — An Oklahoma investment company has unveiled what is believed to be the first Christian-themed line of exchange-traded funds in the United States. FaithShares Trust in Oklahoma City announced two new products, FaithShares Baptist Values Fund and…
EDITORIAL: The truth shall make you … a rarity
I am ready for the gubernatorial election to be over! The televised ads produced by the McDonnell and Deeds campaign staffs and approved by the candidates themselves — if even their endorsements of their own ads can be believed —…
HERITAGE: Lost lessons
They are old and yellowed mimeographed lessons probably intended for use in an adult Sunday school class or maybe a new members’ class. They cover four topics: Salvation, Christian Life, Members’ Responsibilities in the Program of the Church and “the…
OUT LOUD
“Whoever controls the words that are used in translation ultimately controls how we are able to think about theological issues. The words open or close doors for our understanding of God. And ultimately, the words determine who has status in…
Christians are as susceptible as anyone to Internet rumor-mongering. What does that say about us?
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Thanks to the Internet, some gullible American Christians can engage in one of their favorite hobbies — digging up the metaphorical corpse of Madalyn Murray O’Hair and rhetorically flogging it — more easily than ever before. Even…