WASHINGTON (ABP) — A federal appeals court has upheld the nation's only state law banning gay and lesbian people from adopting children. In a Jan. 28 ruling, the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled a Florida law barring…
Texas convention must change to reverse decline, officers say
DALLAS (ABP) — The Baptist General Convention of Texas must change or continue to decline, the convention's three top officers predicted. President Ken Hall, first vice president Albert Reyes and second vice president Dennis Young announced their support for BGCT…
Mohler appoints Moore, Scroggins as deans at Southern Seminary
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) — Russell Moore, 32, has been named dean of the school of theology and senior vice president of academic administration at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the Southern Baptist Convention's oldest seminary. Moore, appointed to the post by…
Alabama pastors ask Bush to withdraw Pryor nomination
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (ABP) — A group of supporters of ousted Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore asked President Bush to withdraw a nominee for a federal judgeship because of his role in Moore's removal. A group of Alabama pastors and an…
Supreme Court to review juvenile death penalty
WASHINGTON (ABP) — The Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether it is constitutional to apply the death penalty to convicts who were teens at the time of their crimes. The justices agreed Jan. 26 to review a case in…
News briefs from ABP’s Washington bureau
Thousands mark Roe anniversary WASHINGTON — Thousands of anti-abortion-rights activists marked the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion across the country Jan. 22. As they have every year since the Roe vs. Wade ruling in 1973, the…
BWA leaders say Baptists of the world ‘belong together’
DALLAS (ABP) — Southern Baptist Convention withdrawal from the Baptist World Alliance would mean not only the loss of one fourth of the organization's income, but the loss of a unified Baptist witness worldwide, say BWA officials. “We belong together…
Alabama, Texas volunteers feed quake victims in Iran
DALLAS (ABP) — Texas Baptist volunteers have been some of the first responders among faith-based disaster-relief workers over the last three decades. But the Texas Baptists who recently returned from Iran were glad an Alabama group had paved the way…
College students more spiritual than courses reflect, study says
LOS ANGELES (ABP) — Most American college students are more interested in discussing spiritual matters than are their professors, preliminary results from a massive nationwide study suggest. Late last year, researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles' Higher…
CBF partner-study committee setting scope of task
ATLANTA (ABP) — A seven-member committee studying the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's funding of ministry partners is making progress in establishing the scope of its work, according to the chair. The committee met Jan. 8-9 in Atlanta and will next reconvene…
Mexican Baptists use lay training to spur church-planting boom
MATAMOROS, Mexico — Baptists in Mexico started about 800 churches in the past year, which leaders hope will help trigger a “spiritual revolution” in Mexico and beyond. The new-church total is impressive because it almost doubles the previous number of…
Of major Democratic candidates, only Lieberman supports vouchers
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Only one of the seven major Democratic candidates for president expressed support for school vouchers, according to an Associated Press poll. Associated Press has been polling major presidential candidates three times a week on major issues. On…