“Together We Are Doing More” was the stated theme, but healing from financial scandal was the subtext that dominated the annual meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Messengers to the Nov. 13-14 meeting elected officers, adopted a $50.6…
Opinion: ‘The truth shall make you odd’
As we await the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group about what “to do” in Iraq, I can't help but be struck by the poverty of our imaginations. Just what, if anything, can we do to shore up the new…
SBC leader says Christians can be good lobbyists despite ‘seductions’
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Christians can be lobbyists and still maintain a clean conscience, as long as they generally believe in what they're peddling, said Southern Baptist professor Mark Coppenger. Coppenger, professor of apologetics at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville,…
Group cancels Thanksgiving boycott of Wal-Mart over gay support
BENTONVILLE, Ark. (ABP) — A group that had threatened a Thanksgiving-weekend boycott over gay-rights issues at the world's largest retailer has called it off. The American Family Association's website reported Nov. 22 that the group had canceled a boycott of…
Quit using gay-baiting rhetoric, theologian tells colleagues
WASHINGTON (ABP) — An evangelical theologian told her colleagues recently they must “cease and desist” publishing materials with “inflammatory language” about homosexuals. Linda Belleville made the comments in an address to her fellow members of the Evangelical Theological Society during…
Baptist leader’s anti-Muslim remarks appear on Arab news network
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Rift among Missouri conservatives boils over at convention meeting
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (ABP) — Strong words from several Missouri Baptist Convention leaders during the convention's recent annual meeting highlighted a growing rift among conservatives in Missouri Baptist leadership. The rift is between two groups — one loyal to the…
Former secretary of state says faith integral to foreign policy
WASHINGTON (ABP) — America's first female secretary of state said Nov. 20 the United States must begin educating its current and future diplomats on faith issues in order to have success in the foreign-policy arena. Echoing the thesis of her…
ABC General Board confirms decisions to sell headquarters, elect missions head
VALLEY FORGE, Pa. (ABP) — Leaders of the American Baptist Churches USA have approved selling the “Holy Doughnut” — the organization's Pennsylvania headquarters building — and confirmed the appointment of a new head for the denomination's international missions organization. The…
Opinion: Elections signal centrist turn
In the aftermath of the epochal power shift in Washington, the pundits are already attempting to interpret the deeper meaning of what happened. Inevitably, one's reading of the election tea leaves is filtered through one's own ideological perspective. Thus conservatives,…
Baylor prof says Francis Schaeffer returned to fundamentalist views
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Many evangelical scholars agree Francis Schaeffer was the single greatest force that propelled evangelicals into political action — ultimately putting George W. Bush in the White House. But some question whether he is rightly described as a…
Ky. Baptists pick young leaders for top offices, celebrate giving
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (ABP) — Continuing a recent trend of electing young leaders, the Kentucky Baptist Convention's new top three officers are under age 40. Darren Gaddis, 37, was elected president; Kevin Smith, 39, was elected first vice president; and…