WASHINGTON (ABP) — The White House announced July 8 that President Obama would tap a prominent Christian geneticist to a top government post. Obama announced that he would nominate Francis Collins, one of the world’s most famous thinkers on the relationship…
Saddleback removes audio clip saying abuse no excuse for divorce
LAKE FOREST, Calif. (ABP) — A senior staff member of Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church, quoted earlier this year as teaching the Bible does not permit a woman to divorce an abusive husband, has said the audio clip containing the comment…
Episcopal presiding bishop terms individualistic salvation ‘heresy’
ANAHEIM, Calif. (ABP) — The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church called the evangelical notion that individuals can be right with God a "great Western heresy" that is behind many problems facing the church and the wider society. Describing a…
Broadway Baptist Church youth choir detours through Nashville
Youth from Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth paint house in Nashville, Tenn. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — Fernia Harris of Nashville, Tenn., got a special surprise on her birthday July 8. A group of teenagers from Broadway Baptist Church…
Broadway Baptist Church youth choir detours through Nashville
Youth from Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth paint house in Nashville, Tenn. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — Fernia Harris of Nashville, Tenn., got a special surprise on her birthday July 8. A group of teenagers from Broadway Baptist Church…
News analysis: Houston, we have a Baptist problem
HOUSTON (ABP) — This summer marked the 30th anniversary of the beginning of the Southern Baptist Convention’s “conservative resurgence” — a movement by strident fundamentalists to rescue a denomination they viewed as going astray. Eighteen years ago many of the…
Baptist views of church-state separation: Q & A with Brent Walker
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Baptists have, since their earliest days, been advocates of religious liberty and its corollary, the separation of church and state. But different groups of modern-day Baptists in the United States interpret church-state separation — and the Constitution’s…
On church-state issues, Obama brings new perspective, slow policy change
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Americans who expected President Obama to make swift and dramatic changes from his predecessor on church-state relations may be disappointed. In his first few months in office, Obama has indicated only a handful of alterations to President…
Callam: BWA is communion table for world Baptist family
HOUSTON (ABP) — The communion table provides a metaphor for how the Baptist World Alliance can unite Baptists in a “true spirit of hospitality,” Neville Callam insisted. Callam, general secretary of the worldwide umbrella group for Baptists, addressed the challenge…
Wrapup: CBF deals with budget shortfall, generational shift
HOUSTON (ABP) — The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship faced financial hardship and generational change in its 19th General Assembly July 2-3 in Houston. Registration for the meeting reached 1,637, well below the 2,250 registered last year in Memphis. Organizers anticipated a…
Wrapup: CBF deals with budget shortfall, generational shift
HOUSTON (ABP) — The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship faced financial hardship and generational change in its 19th General Assembly July 1-3 in Houston. Registration for the meeting reached 1,637, well below the 2,250 registered at last year’s meeting in Memphis. Organizers…
SBC Executive Committee VP steps down suddenly
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — The Southern Baptist Convention official responsible for planning the SBC annual meeting has resigned abruptly, after less than two years on the job and two weeks after this year’s convention meeting in Louisville, Ky. The Southern…