WASHINGTON (ABP) — The Supreme Court declined April 24 to hear a case that pits an elementary school student's religious and speech rights against her school district's responsibility to not endorse Christianity. The justices declined, without comment, to hear the…
CBF nominates Robert Nash for top missions position
ATLANTA (ABP) — Robert Nash has received the nomination for the global missions coordinator position at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. CBF council members will vote to approve the nomination at their annual meeting June 21 in Atlanta. The nomination comes…
Humility the key for common ground, stress Baylor inauguration speakers
WACO, Texas (ABP) — Humility and civility offer common ground where faith and reason can exist in harmony — whether in a nation or on a Christian university campus, speakers stressed at the inauguration of John Lilley as Baylor University's…
Playboy calls for Baylor women; officials tell students to resist the call
WACO, Texas (ABP) — Playboy photographers held an open casting call April 18 at Baylor University, despite the university's discipline and suspension in recent years of students who posed in the magazine. The magazine's photographers traveled to Baylor to solicit…
Louisiana Baptists begin plans to build 1,000 New Orleans homes in two years
NEW ORLEANS (ABP) — In a move that one official termed a “God-sized” task, Southern Baptists have pledged a Herculean effort to rebuild homes and churches destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Jim Burton, director of volunteer mobilization for the Southern Baptist…
Students plan day of speech to counter ‘Day of Silence’
WASHINGTON (ABP) — The culture wars over homosexuality are coming to your local high school soon, featuring a two-day battle. As an estimated 500,000 high school and college students nationwide plan to participate in the national “Day of Silence” April…
New Orleans-area CBF church emerges in Katrina’s aftermath
ATLANTA (ABP) — Amid disaster-response efforts to rebuild homes and lives after Hurricane Katrina, a new Cooperative Baptist Fellowship church has been born in western St. Tammany Parish, La. Bridgewater Church, launched Feb. 12 with a worship service at Madisonville…
Survey results: Church not important for spiritual growth, Americans say
DALLAS (ABP) — Almost three-fourths of Americans claim to be Christians, but only a small fraction consider church the place to deepen their faith, a new survey says. Less than 20 percent of American adults believe participation in a congregation…
Young Hispanic Baptists call for ‘compassionate’ immigration
HOUSTON (ABP) — Hispanic Texas Baptist youth and singles issued a proclamation on immigration reform April 15, calling government leaders to “pass just and compassionate legislation that addresses stronger border security, respect for the law, and a process for citizenship…
Students charged in Alabama arsons plead ‘not guilty,’ get June trial date
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (ABP) — Three men charged with conspiracy and arson in the burning of nine churches in rural Alabama pleaded not guilty in an arraignment hearing April 13. Federal Judge John Ott set a June 5 trial date for…
As collaboration takes root worldwide, focus on ‘purity’ isolates SBC missions
DALLAS (ABP) — At a time when collaboration and cooperation characterize Christian missions, the Southern Baptist International Mission Board appears to be moving toward isolation and exclusion, some veteran missionaries and missiologists insist. They point to new IMB policies —…
Resolution on Baptist dissent submitted to SBC committee
Editor's note: This story is updated from its April 17 release. ARLINGTON, Texas (ABP) — In a sign of the controversy threatening to engulf the Southern Baptist Convention's upcoming annual meeting, a Texas pastor has formally submitted a resolution that…