JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (ABP) — Seven members of rival conservative groups in the Missouri Baptist Convention will go to mediation in an effort to bring about peace within the battle-torn statewide group. The MBC Executive Board voted on April 15…
Opinion: Discipleship and the ‘outside world’
(ABP) — Quite by coincidence, I had just finished reading Carolyn Jessup's Escape when the news stories broke about the raids on the Texas ranch of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints. The “escape” of the book's title is…
Sudanese Baptists reunite after years-long division
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (ABP) — After years of division precipitated by one of history's deadliest civil wars, Sudanese Baptists have finally — like their nation — reunited. The reunification of the Sudan Interior Church North and the Sudan Interior Church…
N.C. college receives donation of 1686 Luther Bible translation
MARS HILL, N.C. (ABP) — Across the centuries, across the ocean, through bombings and world wars, a sacred bit of history has emerged from the distant past to find a home at Mars Hill College. The North Carolina Baptist school…
Texas church, mired in controversy over gays in directory, loses pastor
FORT WORTH, Texas (ABP) – Brett Younger, pastor of Broadway Baptist Church index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=113 Fort Worth, Texas, survived a vote to fire him last month but is leavindex.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=113g the church anyway – to become associate professor of preachindex.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=113g at Mercer University's…
Pope, in first visit to United States, praises freedom, dings secularism
WASHINGTON (ABP) — In his first visit to the United States since ascending to the Throne of St. Peter, Pope Benedict XVI hailed America’s religious freedom and pluralism while simultaneously denouncing secularism’s influence. The pontiff’s tour of the United States…
ABP honors Texas convention, announces $100,000 challenge
SAN ANTONIO (ABP) — Directors of Associated Baptist Press honored the Baptist General Convention of Texas and announced a $100,000 matching-funds challenge from a Texas Baptist family during their semi-annual meeting, held April 14-15 in San Antonio. “Every year, since…
EDITORIAL: In crisis mode
I'm not crazy about the smell of burning wires. Especially at 30,000 feet. Recently on a flight segment from St. Louis to Cincinnati the distinctive odor of burning wires assaulted my olfactory senses. Wanting to believe it was my imagination…
Standing fast in liberty
In the days when they called themselves “colored,” the African-American Baptists of Southside Virginia decided that they needed to organize a new district association. Hasadiah Baptist Association was so large that it covered 200 miles across 21 counties and included…
Opinion: Democrats and the abortion issue
At a policy level, I was generally pleased with the answers of the candidates to the policy questions they were asked. They expressed commitment to domestic-poverty reduction, creation care, the abolition of torture, and efforts to combat AIDS. The fact…
OUT LOUD
“I want to say it again, and again, and again: Islam is not a religion. It is a political system … bent on world domination, not a religion.” Pat Robertson The religious broadcaster was speaking on his “700 Club” program….
Supreme Court decision means executions move forward
WASHINGTON (ABP) — The Supreme Court effectively enabled states to move forward with executions April 16, declaring constitutional a kind of lethal injection used in almost all of the nation’s 30-plus death chambers. In its Baze v. Rees (No. 07-5439)…