WASHINGTON (ABP) — After a 10-year struggle, the federal Department of Veterans Affairs has approved placing a symbol of the Wicca faith on the grave markers of Wiccan soldiers buried in government cemeteries. The decision is the result of a…
In first fallout from abortion ruling, Supreme court returns state cases
WASHINGTON (ABP) — In the first fallout from a controversial recent ruling on abortion rights, the Supreme Court on April 23 returned two cases — dealing with Virginia and Missouri state laws on so-called “partial-birth” abortions — to lower federal…
Baptist colleges prepare strategies for dealing with campus incidents
BELTON, Texas (ABP) — Police cars and fire engines lined the streets on the north side of the University of Mary-Hardin Baylor campus April 18. Paramedics carried students on stretchers and loaded them into ambulances. This time, it was just…
Refugees from Myanmar find New York, Baptist connections
BUFFALO, N.Y. (ABP) — Two Baptist missionaries, after serving 15 years in Thailand, have been reassigned to work with thousands of Karen refugees in the United States and Thailand. The move is noteworthy because the United States recently changed a…
Wife of slain pastor convicted of voluntary manslaughter
SELMER, Tenn. (ABP) — Mary Winkler, the wife of a slain Church of Christ pastor in Tennessee, was convicted April 19 of voluntary manslaughter, a lesser charge than the prosecution wanted. Winkler, 33, was charged in the 2006 slaying of…
Va. Tech: Some Christian leaders offer solace; others blame ‘godlessness’
BLACKSBURG, Va. (ABP) — Christian leaders have begun to respond to the April 16 tragedy at Virginia Tech with words of solace — while a few blame the tragedy on America's 'godlessness.' Most haven't attempted to explain the massacre, saying…
Five Baptist-affiliated students among 32 dead at Va. Tech
RICHMOND, Va. (ABP) — At least six of the 32 dead in the April 16 massacre at Virginia Tech had ties to Baptist churches in Virginia, say Baptist leaders who are monitoring emerging details of the deadly shooting. MSNBC has…
ABP Presidential Campaign Series
GOP presidential race again features faith, but new dynamics Democratic presidential race features more faith than usual ABP compares faith-based positions of top-tier presidential hopefuls “Faith and the presidency”: How the leading candidates compare Will Huckabee's strong Iowa showing bring…
Opinion: More than a tragedy — the evil in Blacksburg
The grotesquely evil act that occurred this week at Virginia Tech challenges the imagination's capacity to respond. I cannot say that I have some kind of comprehensive analysis to offer. I would like to say a few things, though, from…
Palestinian Bible Society building bombed in latest Gaza incident
GAZA CITY, Palestine (ABP) — In the latest violence among warring Palestinian factions, a bomb severely damaged the Palestinian Bible Society building April 15 in Gaza City. The building, located in the city center, housed the Teacher's Bookshop, Gaza's only…
Faith Digest
Amish school reopens after shooting. Amish children entered their new school in Lancaster County, Penn., exactly six months after a gun-toting neighbor walked into their old schoolhouse and shot 10 students, killing five. The Amish demolished the old schoolhouse to…
Virginia Tech students gather at Baptist ministry center
Blacksburg, Va., is a wounded city. With 26,000 students, Virginia Tech is the dominant presence in the town usually bustling with students crisscrossing the campus and spilling over into the streets of the burg. Not Monday. JIM WHITE Although barraged…