GREENVILLE, Miss. (ABP) — Leaders in Mississippi are using the rebirth of a church in Greenville to spearhead long-term missions initiatives in the Mississippi Delta and establish a starting point for work with the rural poor. Located in Greenville, Harvest…
Gay, other moderate GOPers complain as party delegates approve platform
NEW YORK (ABP) — Shortly before delegates to their party's convention approved a platform that called for amending the Constitution to ban same-sex marriage, the Log Cabin Republicans denounced what the group's director called a hijacking of the party by…
Christian leaders denounce Falwell, Robertson in New York Times ad
NEW YORK (ABP) — Declaring that “God is not a Republican. Or a Democrat,” a broad group of evangelical, mainline and Catholic Christian leaders has issued a high-profile response to recent comments by Religious Right leaders appearing to endorse President…
Longtime Mars Hill president dies following bout with cancer
MORGANTON, N.C. (ABP) — Fred Blake Bentley, president emeritus of Mars Hill College, died August 26 at his home on Lake James, near Morganton. Bentley, 68, had fought colon cancer since it was diagnosed in January 2002. When Bentley became…
Falwell offers vision for America, election advice at SBC seminary
FORT WORTH, Texas (ABP) — Visionary Christian leaders in America's pulpits, courthouses and statehouses can transform the nation and change the world, televangelist Jerry Falwell told students at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Falwell, an Independent Fundamentalist-turned-Southern Baptist, spoke Aug. 24…
New poll on voters and religion shows strengths for both parties
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A new poll suggests that American voters hold complex — and seemingly contradictory — views on religion and politics. The poll's results were released Aug. 24 by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and the…
Cheney differs with Bush on marriage amendment
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Vice President Dick Cheney surprised many of his and President Bush's most conservative supporters by publicly differing with the president on the issue of same-sex marriage Aug. 24. The next day, Republican Party officials ratified platform language…
Second federal judge rules against ‘partial-birth’ abortion ban
NEW YORK (ABP) — A second federal judge has ruled against the government's ban on so-called “partial birth” abortions, saying the federal law passed by Congress last year is unconstitutional. The Aug. 26 ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard Casey…
More Americans living in poverty, without insurance, census stats say
WASHINGTON (ABP) — The number of Americans living in poverty rose 3.4 percent last year, to 35.8 million people, while the number without health insurance climbed to 45.0 million, an increase of 1.4 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau….