WASHINGTON (ABP) — The House of Representatives has passed a bill that would strip the Supreme Court and all other federal courts of the ability to decide cases involving the Pledge of Allegiance. On Sept. 23, the House voted 247-173…
Churches in Alabama, Florida assess damage from Ivan
ORANGE BEACH, Ala. (ABP) — “It's nothing but rubble on the sand.” That's the news Paul Smith, pastor of Romar Beach Baptist Church, got from congregation members who watched televised reports of Hurricane Ivan smashing into the beachfront church building….
Future of society, democracy at stake, Land tells SBC Executive Committee
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — America is approaching “the most crucial election process in our lifetime,” according to Richard Land, executive director of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. Though not explicitly endorsing the re-election of President Bush, Land…
Baptist relief efforts follow Ivan from Caribbean to Virginias
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…