WASHINGTON (ABP) — A closely divided Supreme Court ruled June 23 that municipal and other governments have broad power to seize private property — including, possibly, houses of worship — for public purposes. And while churches continue to enjoy heightened…
SBC may consider asking WMU to come under convention authority
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — The Southern Baptist Convention will consider attempting to bring its women's auxiliary under its authority, thanks to a motion from the floor of the SBC annual meeting. Woman's Missionary Union is an auxiliary to the SBC,…
Dead frogs and baptisms gain attention of Southern Baptists
NASHVILLE, Fla. (ABP) — What do dead frogs and stagnant churches have in common? A lot, Southern Baptist Convention president Bobby Welch told the recent SBC meeting. Welch provided one of the more memorable sermon props in recent history when…
NCAA extends Baylor’s probation, cuts games, for basketball violations
WACO, Texas (ABP) — Baylor University's men's basketball team is banned from non-conference play for one year and is under five years of probation for NCAA infractions discovered after the murder of former basketball player Patrick Dennehy in 2003. Four…
New progressive group to counter Religious Right on Christian terms
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A new left-leaning advocacy organization wants to carve out a niche for itself in an increasingly crowded field of groups trying to counter the Religious Right's rhetoric. Leaders of the Christian Alliance for Progress held a formal…
Klansman guilty of manslaughter of three civil-rights activists
Editor's note: This story is updated to include the judge's sentence. PHILADELPHIA, Miss. (ABP) — Forty-one years after the crime, Baptist preacher and former Ku Klux Klan member Edgar Ray Killen was sentenced to 60 years in prison for…
SBC to ‘investigate’ public schools, end Disney boycott, support troops
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — Southern Baptist Convention messengers voted June 22 “to hold accountable schools, institutions and industries for their moral influence on our children.” The resolution also urges parents and churches “to investigate diligently the curricula, textbooks and programs…
Bush highlights CBF church in speech to Southern Baptists
ORLANDO, Fla. (ABP) — President George W. Bush mistakenly praised a church affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship during a speech to the Southern Baptist Convention June 21. College Park Baptist Church in Orlando, Fla., sent money to the SBC…
Lack of effort, not social activism, keeps SBC from evangelizing, Welch says
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — The reason Southern Baptists are lagging behind in evangelism is not all the attention they give to issues of public morality, Bobby Welch told reporters after his re-election as Southern Baptist Convention president. Instead, a lack…
Southern Baptists re-elect Welch, pick pastor, evangelist as VPs
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — Bobby Welch was re-elected to a second term as president of the Southern Baptist Convention without opposition June 21. Welch, pastor of First Baptist Church in Daytona Beach, Fla., has endeared himself to Southern Baptists with…
Air Force Academy problems real but unintentional, report says
ARLINGTON, Va. (ABP) — A Pentagon report on the religious climate at the United States Air Force Academy concludes that an atmosphere of religious intolerance does not pervade the campus, but that there are problems nonetheless. Air Force officials, led…
Five Missouri Baptist institutions seek rehearing of appeal
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (ABP) — Five Missouri Baptist Convention-related entities are seeking a rehearing of a recent appeal that returned an ongoing lawsuit against them to a lower court. Lawyers for The Baptist Home, Windermere Baptist Conference Center, Missouri Baptist…