WASHINGTON (ABP) — Exit polls of Republican voters in the Jan. 15 Michigan primary showed that, unlike in the previous Iowa and New Hampshire contests, evangelical Republicans preferred Mitt Romney to Mike Huckabee. A groundswell of support among self-described evangelical…
Obama again refutes Muslim rumors; Jewish leaders denounce e-mails
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Churchgoing Congregationalist Barack Obama is being forced once again to explain that he is not secretly a Muslim bent on furthering an international Islamic conspiracy by winning the presidency. Jewish and other religious leaders have joined him…
Groups criticize religious insensitivity in exit polls, timing of Nevada caucus
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Leaders from several religious groups are criticizing a polling agency and the organizers of the Jan. 19 Nevada caucuses for a lack of religious sensitivity. In a Jan. 10 letter, a group of prominent evangelicals — including…
Church members must ‘repent’ or risk expulsion, Sutton says
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — The latest internet-publicized conflict at a prominent Southern Baptist church has ended with a lawsuit's dismissal and the pastor calling on the plaintiffs to “repent for their sins” — or risk expulsion from the congregation. The…
Ministries continue in Kenya as violence and tensions remain
NAIROBI, Kenya (ABP) — In spite of a wave of violence that has swept through Kenya over the last few weeks, Baptist groups are proceeding cautiously as they go back to work in the chaotic nation. Classes began as scheduled…
Race, sex, class and presidential politics
It was not until I got to Union Theological Seminary in New York as a doctoral student in Christian ethics that I received my first serious dose of race/class/sex talk. Sometimes it seemed like every course, even every class session,…
Race, sex, class and presidential politics
It was not until I got to Union Theological Seminary in New York as a doctoral student in Christian ethics that I received my first serious dose of race/class/sex talk. Sometimes it seemed like every course, even every class session,…
Huckabee’s role in SBC conflict presaged political balancing act
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (ABP) — Mike Huckabee's role in the holy war that divided the Southern Baptist Convention was as delicate a balancing act as the one he's attempting now in his presidential campaign, balancing grassroots populism and right-wing conservatism….
‘Satanists’ arrested on suspicion of arson in Ala. church burnings
PHENIX CITY, Ala. (ABP) – Two professed Satanists have been charged with a recent series of arsons at Baptist and Methodist churches in rural eastern Alabama. The two men — both 21 years of age — allegedly set fires at…
Opinion: Who is the master of the house?
(ABP) The upcoming Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant, with its promotion of religious liberty, raises the question of how as Baptists we ought to understand true Christian freedom. In recent discussions about Baptist identity, the phrase “spiritual master” has…
Update: Baptist pastor Gilyard arrested for sex messages to teens
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (ABP) — Once touted by Southern Baptist leaders as the nation's next great African-American preacher, Darrell Gilyard was arrested Jan. 14 for sending lewd text messages to underage girls. Dogged for 20 years by dozens of allegations of…
Baptist students sought to study U.N. Millennium Development Goals
ATLANTA (ABP) — The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has announced plans to take 12 students around the world to see how missionaries are working to reach the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals. Sponsored by the Baptist group's Student.Go missions program, the…