WASHINGTON (RNS)—Complaints about improper politicking by tax-exempt organizations went up 43 percent in the 2006 elections compared to 2004, according to a report by the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS was asked to investigate 237 cases involving churches and other…
U.S. Hispanic believers prefer ‘Spirit-filled’ worship in Spanish
WASHINGTON (ABP)—His-panic believers in the United States prefer “Spirit-filled religious expression” and gravitate toward a “distinctively ethnic” worship experience, opting to go to church with other Hispanics and speak Spanish when they get there, according to a recent report by…
Trust level in religion at near-record low
WASHINGTON (RNS)—Americans trust the military and the police significantly more than the church and organized religion, a new Gallup Poll reveals. Only 46 percent of respondents said they had either a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in…
FAITH DIGEST
Polluted lower Jordan River an endangered site. The lower portion of the Jordan River is so polluted, the World Monuments Fund has designated it an “Endangered Cultural Heritage Site.” The international body for the protection of monuments recently placed the…
Future of missions: What about career missionaries?
As churches and individual Christians demand more hands-on, practical connection to missions, some Baptists are questioning whether a missions-by-proxy approach—churches supporting professional career missionaries sent by large denominational agencies— has a future. Count Ken Hall, president of Buckner International, among…
Future of Missions: Technology changes the way missionaries work
NEW YORK (ABP)—Most Baptist missions leaders agree technology has changed the face of missions. What they don't agree on is what it has changed the most. Some claim centralized integration of information has radically reshaped the mission process. Others think…
Virginia Mission Board tests disaster relief center operations
RICHMOND — The Virginia Baptist Mission Board's revamped disaster relief command center was tested during a simulation June 27—and leaders say they were pleased with the results. Historically, off-site coordination for VBMB disaster relief operations has been done by two…
Cries of anguish: BWA leaders worship at slave fort
ACCRA, Ghana—Cape Coast Castle. It sounds like an attraction at Disney World. But for the millions of African slaves who were processed and imprisoned within its walls, there was nothing attractive about it. The suffering of mind and body was…
Opinion: 17 rules for Christian engagement in politics
It's election season again. Actually, it never ceases to be election season in our politics-obsessed culture — and in politics-obsessed evangelical America. I have been thinking a lot about the intersection of evangelicals and politics. In a new book coming…
Gushee appointed professor of Christian ethics at Mercer
MACON, Ga. (ABP) — David Gushee, a Baptist theologian and author, has been named to the position of distinguished university professor of Christian ethics at Mercer University. Gushee currently serves as a professor of philosophy at Union University in Jackson,…
Pulitzer-winning Baptist cartoonist Marlette dies in Miss. car accident
HOLLY SPRINGS, Miss. (ABP) — Doug Marlette, whose editorial cartoons often lampooned fundamentalist religion but whose folksy comic strip celebrated a rural Southern Baptist pastor, was killed in an automobile accident July 10. He was 57. The Pulitzer Prize winner,…
Criticism of Southwestern homemaking courses angers professor, radio host
FORT WORTH, Texas (ABP) — Recent criticism of a “cookie-making” degree at a Southern Baptist seminary has brought some homemakers out swinging, calling the critics “pitiful” and “sanctimonious liberals.” The tiff emerged after a June 18 guest opinion piece by…