Statements by Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey, along with comments by Mitt Romney and his new national security adviser, have brought the issue of torture to the surface in troubling new ways. It is quite clear that this issue is…
Southwestern Seminary creates center honoring ethics leader Land
FORT WORTH, Texas (ABP) — Officials at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary have announced plans to create a Richard Land Center for Cultural Engagement, honoring Southern Baptists' public-policy guru. Land joins another well-known conservative Baptist activist, Paul Pressler, in becoming a…
Leland Seminary, Hampton University reach undergrad agreement
ARLINGTON, Va. (ABP) — A moderate Baptist seminary and a historically African-American college in Virginia have reached a unique degree-granting agreement for undergraduate students. The John Leland Center for Theological Studies, based in Arlington, Va., and Hampton University in Hampton,…
Front-runners vie for ‘values’ votes while Huckabee waits in wings
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Rudy Giuliani wants conservative Christians to know they can trust him. “You have absolutely nothing to fear from me,” he told a group of them Oct. 20. “I find it difficult understanding those who try to make…
Churches use podcasts, RSS as portable outreach tools
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (ABP) — Little white headphones that have revolutionized the way Americans listen to music may also revolutionize the way they learn about God. Hundreds of churches and Christian institutions are using podcasts or other easily downloadable audio and…
Meals on Wheels workers stabbed in kitchen of North Carolina church
ATLANTA (ABP) — Two workers for Meals on Wheels were stabbed Oct. 18 at Lakeside Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, N.C. The workers, who were not members of the church, had been preparing meals in the church's kitchen. Debbie Kornegay,…
Storm damages Kentucky church, narrowly misses worshippers
ATLANTA (ABP) — Five more minutes, and a severe storm's toll at Third Baptist Church in Owensboro, Ky., could have been much worse. Roughly 100 people had gathered for a community ecumenical service Oct. 18 when a severe thunderstorm blew…
Two top Texas Baptist leaders resign: No. 2 exec Gunter, WMU chief Porterfield
DALLAS (ABP) — Ron Gunter, chief operating officer for the Baptist General Convention of Texas, has resigned. His Oct. 18 announcement came two days after Carolyn Porterfield announced her resignation as executive director-treasurer of the Woman's Missionary Union of Texas….
GOP candidates try to woo ‘values voters’ at meeting
WASHINGTON (ABP) — About 2,000 of America's “values voters,” described by some as a disgruntled constituency, gathered in Washington, D.C., Oct. 19 to be wooed by the Republican presidential candidates. The three-day event came the same day Kansas Sen. Sam…
Values Voters Summit: Land, Wallis debate how faith influences politics
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Jim Wallis and Richard Land agree that faith should influence public policy. They just can't agree on how. The two evangelical leaders — one conservative, one progressive — locked horns in an Oct. 19 debate at the…
‘Values voters’ prefer Romney, Huckabee; Giuliani finishes disappointing 8th
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Voters in an Oct. 20 straw poll seemed to confirm what many pundits have said all along: Conservative Christians simply will not support a presidential candidate who backs abortion rights. In the second-largest straw poll of this…
SECOND OPINION: Imprecatory prayer: Is invoking a curse a valid part of prayer?
Editor's note: Former Southern Baptist Convention second vice president and California pastor Wiley Drake recently called for Christians to pray for God's judgment to fall on leaders of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which had encouraged the…