SUMMERSVILLE, W. Va. (ABP) — “Ivan the Terrible” is finally gone, but Baptist volunteers are just getting started cleaning up the mess he left — from the Caribbean to the Alleghenies. The storm first made landfall in the United States…
WMU of Virginia leaders adopt ‘declaration’ opposing devaluing of women in ministry
RICHMOND, Va. (ABP) — Leaders of Woman's Missionary Union of Virginia have adopted a declaration endorsing the “diverse and unlimited” Christian vocations of women and “rejecting” both the Southern Baptist Convention's official opposition to women pastors and the refusal of…
Documentary features C.S. Lewis, Sigmund Freud in dialogue about God
BOSTON (ABP) – The Christian and the atheist – one British, the other Austrian – both shaken by war and personal tragedy, both clinging to the bitter end to their acceptance, or rejection, of the divine. The ideas of C….
News briefs from ABP’s Washington Bureau
Louisiana voters approve gay-marriage ban BATON ROUGE, La. — Voters in Louisiana have become the latest to endorse an amendment to their state constitution banning same-sex marriage. By a 78-to-22-percent majority, Louisianans approved the amendment Sept. 18. With 100 percent…
Hurricane Ivan wreaks terrible damage to Pensacola, coasts of Alabama, Florida
PENSACOLA, Fla. (ABP) — Hurricane Ivan — as powerful as Charley and as big as Frances — pounded the Gulf coasts of Alabama and Florida Sept. 15-16 with 130 mph winds. At least 13 deaths were blamed on Ivan —…
State Department rebukes Saudis for repressing religious freedom
WASHINGTON (ABP) — The State Department finally acceded Sept. 15 to years of requests from human-rights agencies, lawmakers and a government commission by naming Saudi Arabia one of the world's most egregious violators of religious liberty. Secretary of State Colin…
House committee approves bill blocking court rulings on pledge
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A House committee has approved a bill that would strip from the federal courts — including the Supreme Court — the power to decide cases related to the Pledge of Allegiance. On a 17-10 party-line vote, the…
UPDATE: Adrian Rogers to retire but remain at Bellevue
CORDOVA, Tenn. (ABP) — Adrian Rogers, prominent pastor and leader of Southern Baptist conservatives, has announced he will retire in six months from the church he has led for 32 years — but that he'll remain close at hand. Rogers,…
Baptist children among hundreds killed in Russian school massacre
BESLAN, Russia (ABP) — At least a half-dozen children of Baptist leaders were killed when a hostage standoff in a Russian school ended violently Sept. 3, according to Baptist groups from the region. The two-day crisis in the southern town…
Welch’s barnstorming bus tour aimed at reviving SBC zeal, baptisms totals
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) — With a schedule reminiscent of a whistle-stop political campaign, Southern Baptist Convention president Bobby Welch is riding a star-spangled bus through 48 states in an effort to reverse a decline in Southern Baptist evangelism. Welch, who…
‘Lost boy’ who escaped war in Sudan slain in Louisville
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) — When refugees arrive in Louisville from lands ravaged by war or famine, it often seems the worst is behind them. Agencies and volunteers surround them with attention — trying to find them jobs, enroll them in…
Fort Worth church remembers, recovers from deadly 1999 attack
FORT WORTH, Texas (ABP) — An American flag flies outside a south Fort Worth church. The flagpole looks just like the kind students gather around for “See You at the Pole” schoolyard prayer services each year in mid-September. But an…