FALLS CHURCH, Va. (ABP) — The Baptist World Alliance is encouraging churches to observe Human Rights Day the weekend of Dec. 12-13. The weekend is nearest the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations…
Anti-gay Phelps clan loses challenge to Nebraska flag-desecration law
OMAHA, Neb. (ABP) — An independent Baptist church famous for pushing the boundaries of free speech in controversial protests denouncing homosexuality lost a legal battle when Nebraska's Supreme Court refused to hear the case of a church member accused of…
British Baptist Nativity effort invites public to ‘Get in the Picture’
Participants at a holiday street fair in Didcot, England, get their photos taken in a Nativity scene sponsored by the Baptist Union of Great Britain. (Baptist Times/Alex Baker) DIDCOT, England (ABP) — Thousands of people around the United Kingdom are…
U.S. Christian leaders denounce Ugandan anti-gay bill
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Christian leaders in the United States with diverse viewpoints on homosexuality are joining forces to protest a Ugandan proposal to punish homosexual behavior with imprisonment or even death. Catholic, evangelical and mainline Protestant leaders including Ronald Sider,…
Conservative Christians push back at calls to curb greenhouse emissions
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Leading up to the major United Nations summit on climate change, a conservative Christian group released a report questioning the science, economics and theology surrounding calls to counteract global warming. The Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of…
Supreme Court to deal with rights of religious groups at state schools
WASHINGTON (ABP) — The Supreme Court agreed Dec. 7 to hear a case dealing with sticky questions about whether religious groups at state schools can be forced to either comply with non-discrimination policies or forego the access to funding and…
Restorative Justice: Relationship at heart of philosophy
(ABP) — Relationship is at the heart of the restorative-justice philosophy — restoring an offender’s relationship with self, family and community. Members of the Restorative Justice Ministry Family Service Center board of directors gather in front of the Community Mediation…
Restorative Justice: Programs focus on healing, not just punishment
(ABP) – The woman sobbed quietly into her hands for a few minutes. Composing herself as best she could, she looked into the eyes of the 18-year-old. "I forgive you," she declared. "But you are going to have to prove…
Restorative Justice: Ministry to inmates’ families key to rehabilitation
(ABP) — Ministry to inmates’ children and spouses can help keep families together through incarceration and after release. Generally, offenders are placed in prisons away from home — often across the state or even in another state. Lynn Humeniuk, director…
Judge in Tajikistan orders Baptist church to close
OSLO, Norway (ABP) — A judge in Tajikistan has ordered a Baptist church in the capital city, Dushanbe, to cease meetings in a private home, saying that housing codes and a new religion law require houses of worship to register…
Baptist college offers model for transforming its neighborhood
HOUSTON (ABP) — Five years ago, the neighborhood north of Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, was a scene of broken windows, cars littering yards, lawns turned into weed-filled jungles and paint peeling from houses. But Hardin-Simmons placed a family in…
Ethicist: Obama’s Afghanistan plan falls short of just-war criteria
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — A Baptist ethicist says President Obama's Dec. 1 speech outlining his Afghanistan strategy did not satisfy criteria used by Christians for centuries to justify war. Robert Parham, pictured here at BCE's 15th anniversary celebration in 2006,…