(ABP) — This week marks the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. In this column I want to honor Dr. King by offering reflections about what his life and work mean to me today. I aim…
Supreme Court to hear case pitting 10 Commandments vs. ‘7 Aphorisms’
WASHINGTON (ABP) – It's the Ten Commandments versus the Seven Aphorisms, and it'll be coming to the Supreme Court sometime in its 2008-09 term. The justices agreed March 31 to hear a case involving a 47-year-old monument to the Decalogue…
Fundamentalism & violence: Fundamentalists of all stripes want to turn back the clock
(ABP) — Despite all their theological and cultural differences, fundamentalists of every faith share at least one common characteristic: resistance to modernity. That's the assessment of scholars and firsthand observers who have evaluated the varieties of religious expression. “Fundamentalism worldwide…
Fundamentalism & militancy: Defining ‘fundamentalism’
(ABP) — 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, according to religious scholars. But…
Missouri Baptist Convention faces $10 million countersuit
CAMDENTON, Mo. (ABP) — The Missouri Baptist Convention could face paying more than $10 million to a developer over land formerly owned by Windermere Baptist Conference Center. William Jester of Springfield, Mo., has filed a counterclaim to legal action convention…
Home sweet home: Chaplain uses cookies to reach out
BAGHDAD (ABP) — For American military personnel serving in Iraq, there's nothing like a taste of home — literally. Soldiers are finding comfort in a coffeehouse that provides homemade cookies run by a Baptist General Convention of Texas-endorsed chaplain, Kari…
No cancer found during Mohler’s colon 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. A popular radio commentator and spokesman for conservative social…
Watchdog groups use celebrity cast to turn focus on church-state issues
WASHINGTON (ABP) – Thomas Jefferson and James Madison are now only one degree of separation away from Kevin Bacon. The fathers of the First Amendment's religion clauses came together (in spirit, at least) with the contemporary actor at a celebrity-laden…
Opinion: On homosexuality, can we at least talk about it?
(ABP) — I'm one of the few leaders in Baptist life with the freedom to talk openly and honestly about the complex theological, moral, pastoral, and public policy issues raised by homosexuality without destroying myself professionally. Because I hold a…
Church plant models peace in Brooklyn neighborhood
NEW YORK (ABP) — In 1991, Crown Heights became infamous. The death of a young African-American child, who was hit by a car driven by a Jewish man, sparked three days of race riots in the Brooklyn neighborhood that made…
ABC gives $100K grant to CBF Katrina relief
VALLEY FORGE, Pa. (ABP) — National Ministries of the American Baptist Churches USA has given a $100,000 grant to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship to continue building houses for those displaced 2 ½ years ago by Hurricane Katrina. CBF has been…
Imprisoned Baptist pastor released in Azerbaijan
BAKU, Azerbaijan (ABP) — An Azerbaijani Baptist pastor imprisoned on what his supporters have called trumped-up charges has been released, according to the Baptist World Alliance. Zaur Balaev was freed from a prison in Baku, the former Soviet republic's capital,…