Editor's note: This story corrects and updates one issued under the same headline April 8. PHOENIX (ABP) — John McCain has a deep and personal Christian commitment despite his reluctance to speak publicly about it, according to the man McCain…
Chinese human-rights record spurs Olympic boycott calls
WASHINGTON (ABP) — China's repressive record on religious freedom is one of the main reasons many people are calling on President Bush to boycott the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The White House indicated April 8 that Bush…
Baptists active in aftermath of raid on polygamist sect
ELDORADO, Texas (ABP) — A raid on a polygamist Mormon splinter group in rural Texas has resulted in Baptists helping hundreds of children seized from the sect's compound on suspicion of abuse. As of April 9, state officials had removed…
Alliance leaders approve development consultant
NEW ORLEANS (ABP) — The Alliance of Baptists has agreed to work with Hewett Consulting of Charlotte, N.C., to design a development strategy to help strengthen its financial situation as it moves forward with a new administrative structure. The progressive…
McCain’s faith: Pastor describes senator as devout, but low-key
PHOENIX (ABP) — John McCain has a deep and personal Christian commitment despite his reluctance to speak publicly about it, according to the man the presumptive GOP presidential nominee claims as his pastor. Dan Yeary, pastor of North Phoenix Baptist…
McCain’s faith: Pastor describes senator as devout, but low-key
Editor's note: This story corrects and updates one issued under the same headline April 8. PHOENIX (ABP) — John McCain has a deep and personal Christian commitment despite his reluctance to speak publicly about it, according to the man McCain…
Historic Wisconsin church destroyed in gas explosion
OCONOMOWOC, Wis. (ABP) — American Baptist Churches USA officials have sent aid in the aftermath of a gas blast that leveled the nearly century-old sanctuary of one of their churches. First Baptist Church of Oconomowoc, Wis., was destroyed in the…
Virginia native named CBF leader
ATLANTA (ABP) — Jim Smith has been named the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's director of field team ministries for CBF global missions. The position was previously held by Jack Snell, who died in October after a six-month battle with pancreatic cancer….
British Baptist to lead U.S. seminary
CHICAGO (ABP) — The head of British Baptists' mission agency will become the head of an American Baptist seminary, according to the Baptist World Alliance. Alistair Brown, general director of BMS World Mission since 1996, has been selected to be…
No cancer found in Mohler surgery
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) — As expected, a tumor removed from the colon of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Al Mohler proved not to be cancerous, according to a seminary news release. Mohler underwent surgery March 20 to remove the mass….
Fundamentalist now applies to ‘other groups that scare us’
Were the 9/11 terrorists who flew airplanes into the Twin Towers fundamentalists? Technically, no. Practically, yes. “Fundamentalism” specifically refers to a conservative movement within U.S. Protestant Christianity that began about a century ago, scholars agree. But they concede the term…
UK churches angry over Good Friday betting
LONDON (RNS) — Thousands of betting shops across Britain infuriated the Church of England and other religious organizations by opening for the first time on Good Friday, one of Christianity's holiest days. Gamblers flocked into some 4,000 bookmaker premises to…