WASHINGTON (ABP) — A federal panel charged with monitoring religious freedom worldwide is asking the Bush administration to take sanctions against Pakistan, Uzbekistan and several other nations for severe violations. Members of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom…
Politics in pulpit spark church feud, members’ ouster in North Carolina
Editor's note: This story replaces one issued May 6. WAYNESVILLE, N.C. (ABP) — Nine members of a Baptist church in North Carolina say they were removed from membership because they disagree with the pastor's political views. Frank Lowe, one of…
Critics say church zoning measure in Alabama town violates federal law
PRICHARD, Ala. (ABP) — While sitting in the pews of a local church, Prichard City Council members unanimously approved a six-month moratorium on churches locating in business and commercial areas of town. The suspension, which passed April 21, has caused…
Megachurches more numerous than researchers thought, study shows
HARTFORD, Conn. (ABP) — The megachurch phenomenon may be even bigger than the experts thought. New research underway suggests there may be 1,200 or more of the biggie-sized congregations in the U.S. — not 850 as earlier studies showed. The…
As filibuster vote draws near, rhetoric reaches fever pitch
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A week chock-full of dueling press conferences is the latest sign that the Senate's war over the judicial filibuster is escalating — and may end with a “nuclear” detonation. As senators returned from a recess May 9,…
Judge says sex-ed program violates First Amendment
ROCKVILLE, Md. (ABP) — A federal judge has temporarily halted a sex-education program in a suburban Washington, D.C, school district, saying it violates the First Amendment's free-speech and religion clauses by promoting only one view of homosexuality. On May 5,…
Justice Department establishes task force on obscenity
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is pleasing conservative Christian leaders by focusing attention on pornography. Gonzales' deputy, Christopher Wray, announced May 5 that the Department of Justice is establishing a special task force that will try to curb…
Virginia Baptist leader elected editor of Religious Herald
James E. White, a Virginia Baptist Mission Board department head and former Virginia Baptist pastor, will become editor of the Religious Herald on June 1. White, who has been team leader of the Mission Board's empowering leaders team since 2003,…
N.C. church removes members for political views, deacon says
WAYNESVILLE, N.C. (ABP) — A Baptist deacon says he and eight other members of a North Carolina church were removed from membership because they disagreed with the pastor's political views. Frank Lowe said he had been a member of the…
Georgia campus ministers pushed to change churches
MACON, Ga. (ABP) — At the conclusion of morning worship Sunday, April 17, pastor Jim Dant asked the congregation of Highland Hills Baptist Church in Macon, Ga., to pray for two long-time members who were considering leaving the church. Neither…
Baptists in Nazareth upset by IMB plan to sell building now used by churches
NAZARETH, Israel (ABP) — Baptists in Nazareth, Israel, are upset with plans of the International Mission Board to sell a 50-year-old stone building which a local Baptist church uses for worship and other churches use for various ministries. The two-story…
No Heritage column
There is no Heritage Column for May 5, 2005