WASHINGTON (ABP) — For the second time in as many years, President Bush vetoed a bill June 20 that would have expanded federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research. However, in order to soften the political impact of nixing the popular…
Nation’s largest African-American religious group tackles AIDS
ST. LOUIS (ABP) — For the first time, the nation's largest African-American religious body has corporately addressed the HIV/AIDS crisis. AIDS awareness and prevention figured prominently on the agenda for the annual meeting of the National Baptist Convention USA, Inc….
CBF’s Hester to retire after seven years of new church starts
ATLANTA (ABP) — Phil Hester, a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship specialist for new churches, has announced he will retire at the end of this year. During his seven-year tenure at the fellowship, Hester helped start churches in 21 different states, including…
Anti-Muslim bias skyrocketed in U.S. in 2006, report claims
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Complaints of anti-Muslim bias in the United States shot up by 25 percent in 2006 as compared to the previous year, according to an annual report by an Islamic group. The annual report of the Council on…
Mass. legislators kill marriage ban; N.Y. panel moves gay marriage bill
ALBANY, N.Y. (ABP) — Legislators in Massachusetts crushed an attempt to reverse that state's stance on same-sex marriage June 14, while their counterparts in New York were poised June 19 to move forward with becoming the second state to legalize…
Police again seize Baptist church in Gaza during latest unrest
GAZA CITY, Palestine (ABP) — Palestinian police have seized a Baptist church in the Gaza Strip for the second time in recent months, the church's pastor said June 15. Hanna Massad, pastor of the Gaza Baptist Church, said Gaza's Baptists…
Baptist bloggers calling it quits, turning to other methods, ministry
(ABP) — The most prominent Baptist bloggers who led a two-year revolt against the Southern Baptist Convention establishment have abandoned their Internet-fueled campaign, but they insist they will continue the crusade for more openness in the SBC with other methods….
In historic move, First Baptist Decatur calls woman as senior pastor
DECATUR, Ga. (ABP) — First Baptist Church of Decatur, Ga., has become the largest church associated with the Southern Baptist Convention or the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship to hire a woman as senior pastor. In a closed business session after Sunday…
Mark Olson named president of Washington-area seminary
ARLINGTON, Va. (ABP) — Trustees of the John Leland Center for Theological Studies have named Mark Olson, former pastor of Snyder Memorial Baptist Church in Fayetteville, N.C., as the second president of the Virginia school. Olson, who was unanimously elected,…
Ruth Graham, wife of evangelist Billy Graham, dead at 87
MONTREAT, N.C. (ABP) — Ruth Graham, the wife of evangelist Billy Graham, died June 14 at her home at Little Piney Cove in Montreat, N.C. She was 87. An author, philanthropist, Congressional Gold Medal winner and mother of five, Graham…
Southern Baptists doubt human cause, government solution to global warming
SAN ANTONIO (ABP) — The Southern Baptist Convention rejected scientific claims that humans are to blame for global warming and dismissed the governmental efforts to reverse it. Messengers to the annual SBC meeting also stood by their resolution committee's decision…
Jeremiah Moore commission reports on prospects for house
RICHMOND — Prospects for reconstructing at Eagle Eyrie Baptist Conference Center the 18th-century house associated with an early Virginia Baptist leader moved a few steps forward last April, when the the Jeremiah Moore House Commission held its initial meeting at…