WASHINGTON (ABP) — By a large majority, the Senate voted June 15 to extend federal hate-crimes protections to sexual minorities. Senators voted 65-33 to add crimes based on a victim's real or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or disability to…
Winning speaker urges ‘just trust’ at Bible drill competition
SAN ANTONIO (ABP) — “Just trust” is a simple message, but it's one that Emily Burkhead lives by daily. Burkhead, an 18-year-old member of First Baptist Church in Cleveland, Texas, won the top prize in the speaker part of the…
SBC votes to cut ties to Baptist World Alliance
INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — Southern Baptist Convention messengers voted overwhelmingly June 15 to end the denomination's 99-year relationship with the Baptist World Alliance. The action during the SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis follows several years of tension between the two organizations….
Southern Baptists cheer Bush, leave BWA, hear warning about ‘separatism’
INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — In an eventful first day of their annual meeting, Southern Baptists heard a rousing speech from President George W. Bush, broke ties with the Baptist World Alliance, and elected a new convention president June 15. During the…
American Baptist leader labels Patterson’s charges ‘outrageous’
INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — Paige Patterson's assessment of the American Baptist Churches USA's stand on homosexuality is “completely outrageous,” declared ABC General Secretary Roy Medley. Patterson, a member of the Southern Baptist Convention's Baptist World Alliance study committee, cited BWA's affiliation…
House committee removes controversial church-politicking provision from trade bill
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A House committee has scuttled a provision in a trade bill that would have allowed churches to engage in partisan politics. On June 14, the House Ways and Means Committee unanimously removed an addendum to the “American…
Terry Nichols ‘born again,’ avoids death sentence again
McALESTER, Okla. (ABP) — A jailhouse conversion to Christianity may be what saved Terry Nichols from the death penalty during a state trial for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombings, according to both the prosecution and defense lawyers. Nichols faced 161…
Supreme Court avoids ‘under God’ issue in rejecting father’s challenge to pledge
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Fifty years to the day after the words “under God” were added to the Pledge of Allegiance, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge to remove them — but only on technical grounds. On June 14, the…
Supreme Court avoids ‘under God’ issue in rejecting father’s challenge to pledge
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Fifty years to the day after the words “under God” were added to the Pledge of Allegiance, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge to remove them — but only on technical grounds. On June 14, the…