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,…
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…
Bush businesslike, ‘mainstream’ in handling of faith, insiders say
WASHINGTON (ABP) — While many of President Bush's opponents and critics alike have pointed to his evangelical Christian faith as his defining characteristic, several intimately acquainted with Bush recently told a gathering of journalists the president considers himself in the…
SBC’s TV network cuts budget in half, lays off 19
FORT WORTH, Texas (ABP) — Nineteen employees of the Southern Baptist broadcasting network learned Sept. 9 their jobs were eliminated as part of a major cost-cutting move that reduces the FamilyNet annual operating budget more than half — from $8.5…
Belmont University wants to elect own trustees, including non-Baptists
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — Belmont University trustees have given leaders of the Tennessee Baptist Convention a proposed covenant that would take away the convention's current responsibility of electing trustees for the university. Belmont President Robert Fisher presented the proposal to…
Georgia Supreme Court agrees to hear Shorter College appeal
ROME, Ga. (ABP) — The Georgia Supreme Court has agreed to hear Shorter College's appeal of a court's decision in favor of the Georgia Baptist Convention, according to the court clerk's office Sept. 14. A state appeals court ruled March…