ATLANTA (ABP) — Two long-serving Cooperative Baptist Fellowship missionaries to New York's diplomatic community are moving to North Carolina, and the organization has no plans to replace them. Ana and David D'Amico have served as missionaries at the United Nations…
State newspaper editors decline BWA study offer
STOWE, Vt. (ABP) — State Baptist newspaper editors, during their annual meeting Feb. 13, declined an offer from a foundation to fund an independent inquiry into the Southern Baptist Convention's reasons for defunding the Baptist World Alliance. Meeting in the…
Frustrated Massachusetts lawmakers end historic session without gay-marriage ban
BOSTON (ABP) — The Massachusetts legislature adjourned its historic constitutional convention Feb. 12 without reversing the state supreme court's recent legalization of gay marriage. With thousands of protesters gathered outside Feb. 11, legislators began debating legal measures that would limit…
SBC president Jack Graham calls for Southern Baptist name change
NASHVILLE (ABP) — As “a network of churches that circle the planet,” the Southern Baptist Convention must consider changing its name to “reflect who we are and what we are doing nationally and internationally,” SBC president Jack Graham told the…
As SBC vote on leaving BWA nears, protester walks to inspire change of heart
NASHVILLE (ABP) — Despite pleas from their Baptist brethren worldwide, Southern Baptist Convention leaders show no sign of abandoning their plan to withdraw from the Baptist World Alliance. But that isn't stopping Florida retiree Bob Casey from trying to change…
NAMB stops endorsing female military chaplains
ALPHARETTA, Ga. (ABP) — The North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention will cease endorsing women to chaplain positions “where the role and function of the chaplain would be seen the same as that of a pastor.” The…
South Korea scientists report on cloned human embryos
(ABP) — Scientists in South Korea report that they have created human embryos through cloning and extracted embryonic stem cells, the universal cells that hold great promise for medical research, according to the Boston Globe. Their goal, the scientists say,…
House committee airs issues over Super Bowl indecency
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Members of a House panel grilled a television executive and the National Football League's head Feb. 11 in a hearing on the lingering controversy over TV indecency at the Super Bowl. The House subcommittee on telecommunications is…
France’s ban on religious symbols in schools sparks outcry from religious-liberty groups (revised)
PARIS (ABP) — France's lower house of parliament has voted overwhelmingly to prohibit students from wearing “conspicuous” religious symbols in public schools, sparking an outcry from religious liberty advocates in the United States. The French National Assembly voted 494 to…