WASHINGTON (ABP) — When true love doesn't wait, it also apparently doesn't use a condom. That's one conclusion from a scientific study of teenagers who made pledges to abstain from sexual intercourse before marriage. Researchers announced the study's results March…
Bill before Congress would fund restoration of Catholic missions
WASHINGTON (ABP) — For a change, the Bush administration isn't supporting a bill that would provide federal financial assistance to churches. An official from Bush's National Park Service testified March 9 against a bill that would provide $10 million in…
Commission hails rights protections, warns of risks in Iraqi constitution
By WASHINGTON (ABP) — Iraq has a new interim constitution that offers high levels of protection for religious freedom — but one of its provisions still gives pause to some human-rights watchdogs. After a delay due to last-minute objections by…
White East Texas Baptist pastor seeks to heal town’s racial wounds
KIRBYVILLE, Texas (ABP) — Some people see the world in black and white. Charles Burchett, pastor of First Baptist Church in Kirbyville, Texas, aims to end that. The soft-spoken-but-frank minister has become the voice for racial unity in a town…
Fundamentalism & militancy: In world torn by religious history, stereotypes, is peace possible?
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (ABP) — Is it possible in today's world for religions to live at peace? It is if they are true to their natures, according to world-religions expert Charles Kimball. “Peace is a central feature of all of the…
Texas Baptists end marketing pact with Lifeway, SBC’s publisher
DALLAS (ABP) — The Baptist General Convention of Texas will end its exclusive marketing agreement with the Southern Baptist Convention's publishing house, an agreement that for years has given SBC materials a priority position among the state's 5,600 churches. The…
CBF signs three-year partnership with All Africa Baptist Fellowship
KUMASI, Ghana (ABP) — The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has signed a partnership agreement to do ministry with the All Africa Baptist Fellowship, an umbrella organization of Baptists in Sub-Saharan Africa. The three-year, renewable agreement will deploy CBF resources and volunteers…
For children, God needs to be close at hand, educators say
DALLAS (ABP) — Children can begin to understand God if parents and churches will help them, according to ministry leaders. Children and preschoolers struggle to comprehend many abstract aspects of God — God's ability to know all, do all and…
Israeli musicians share faith, music with U.S. churches
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) — When Esther and Yaacov Horesh describe their faith in Christ, it's a rich blend of their strong Jewish roots and the influence of Baptist missionaries to Israel. “Jesus was Jewish and the first believers were Jewish,”…