BLUEFIELD — Bluefield College’s aim to be a Christ-centered institution took a new twist last summer when a Taiwanese Kung Fu master made a profession of faith following the martial arts seminar he had come to lead at the Virginia…
Evangelical groups protest new religion law in Kyrgyz Republic
(ABP) — Evangelical leaders in the Kyrgyz Republic are protesting a new religion law they say significantly restricts religious freedom in the officially secular country. A new law, titled "On the Freedom of Worship and Religious Organizations," took effect Jan….
Church arson investigation brings new charges against former pastor
BELTON, S.C. (ABP) — A Southern Baptist pastor accused of setting fire to his own church March 8 now faces additional charges of breach of trust and filing a false police statement. On March 13, sheriff's deputies in South Carolina…
RIGHT or WRONG: Racism or sexism — Which is the more virulent “ism” in our society and churches?
A key word in the question is “virulent.” According to Webster’s Dictionary, “virulent” carries the impact of being actively poisonous, noxious, highly infective, intensely bitter, spiteful and malicious. To deny a person the right to participate in the fullness of…
Through a glass darkly: Churches struggle to know how to respond to people with mental illness
Living with depression — or any other form of mental illness — is like viewing life “through a glass darkly,” according to Jessy Grondin, a student in Vanderbilt University’s Divinity School. “It distorts how you see things.” Like one in…
OUT LOUD
“A spirit of adulation, bordering on servility, already exists among some of the same Democratic-friendly Catholic writers, scholars, editors and activists who once accused pro-lifers of being too cozy with Republicans.” Archbishop Charles Chaput The Denver, Colo., prelate was speaking…
VIRGINIA BAPTIST FORUM: No dichotomy between science, Bible
I really enjoyed the creation/evolution articles in the Feb. 12 edition of the Religious Herald. Bob Allen did a good job of covering the debate and ongoing discussions on the subject of origins. The “Clergy Letter Project” is indeed most…
HERITAGE: A time of beginnings
It was late in the afternoon of March 3, 1989, in the First Baptist Church of Greenville, S.C. Elmer West, long prominent in Baptist life, was there, along with others attending the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Alliance (now…
EDITORIAL: Does Darfur still matter?
The dusty roads of Sudan are a long way from Mainstreet, Virginia. Separated by thousands of miles, a chasm of ideology and an ocean of blood, most Virginia Baptists have been slow to recognize and even slower to respond to…
From the Eastern Shore to Cumberland Gap
STAFF CHANGES • Jonathan Hillard, to First Church, Gretna, as pastor. • Matthew Teves, to Sterling Park Church, Sterling, as pastor. • Armando de la Merced, to Grace Filipino Church, Woodbridge, as pastor. • Joey Giles, to James Square Church,…
Illinois Baptist pastor killed in service
A lone gunman entered the sprawling First Baptist Church of Maryville, Ill., Sunday morning, March 8, during its 8:15 a.m. service and after exchanging words with the pastor who had stepped down from the pulpit to greet the man, he…
Supreme Court: Sect can’t force Utah city to erect monument’
WASHINGTON (ABP) — In a groundbreaking, but limited, free-speech case the Supreme Court said the city of Pleasant Grove, Utah, can’t be forced to accept the gift of a monument to a small religious sect’s precepts — even though the…