SPRINGDALE, Ark. (ABP) — Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a religious-liberty watchdog organization, filed a complaint July 20 with the IRS against the 14,000-member First Baptist Church of Springdale, Ark., the largest church affiliated with the Arkansas…
Baptist mission board says volunteers must follow 2000 doctrinal statement
TYLER, Texas (ABP) — All groups working with missionaries of the International Mission Board must work within the parameters of the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message, IMB trustees decided, and only members of Southern Baptist churches can lead overseas mission…
Baptist ministers to face off in Georgia state Senate race
MACON, Ga. (ABP) — Two Baptist ministers — Republican Cecil Staton and Democrat Ben Taylor — will be campaigning for an open Georgia state Senate seat in the Nov. 2 general election. The newly created district covers parts of five…
Religious coalition protests inaction on Sudan genocide
WASHINGTON (ABP) — As Congress considered a resolution declaring the ethnic cleansing crisis taking place in western Sudan as genocide, a diverse coalition of religious leaders and congregants protested governmental inaction on the crisis. Around 300 people staged a “die-in”…
Poverty, homelessness take back seat to gay marriage, abortion in election
(ABP) — Gay marriage and abortion are overshadowing other moral issues in the presidential election, even among Christian voters, who make up the overwhelming majority of the electorate. “It has to do with the nature of our political structure,” said…
Money-strapped American Baptists warn missionaries of possible recall
VALLEY FORGE, Pa. (ABP) — The American Baptists Churches USA may lose up to a fifth of its missionary force unless its mission agency can raise enough money to overcome its current financial crisis. The head of International Ministries, the…
House panel approves bill limiting courts on marriage
WASHINGTON (ABP) — The same day a gay-marriage ban failed to move forward in the Senate, a different approach to opposing same-sex nuptials passed a House committee. The House Judiciary Committee voted July 14 to send the Marriage Protection Act…
Constitutional amendment inappropriate for issue of gay marriage, some experts say
WASHINGTON (ABP) — As supporters vow to continue the fight for a constitutional amendment banning homosexual marriage, many leading constitutional scholars say an amendment is too drastic a measure. Louis Michael Seidman, professor at Harvard Law School, said the proposed…
Religious, other leaders urge court to bar death penalty for minors
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A broad coalition of concerned parties — including Nobel laureates, scientific leaders, foreign countries and American religious denominations — is urging the Supreme Court to ban the death penalty for offenders who were under 18 at the…