The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has halted an execution scheduled Aug. 24 which had been labeled immoral by a group of evangelical leaders including several well-known moderate Baptists.
Canadian Baptist group protests racial profiling
An association of Baptist churches in Canada is calling for a boycott of the nation’s second-largest supermarket chain to protest the grocer’s appeal of a human rights panel’s finding that the store engaged in racial profiling.
Sue for religious freedom? It’s not just for conservatives, anymore
The number of religious freedom bills across the United States may give the impression that using the law to protect faith is a purely conservative pursuit. Well, it isn’t, says Brent Walker of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.
Trump donates $100,000 for flood relief to Baptist church whose interim is conservative activist
Presidential candidate Donald Trump has donated $100,000 for flood relief to a Louisiana Baptist church where Family Research Council President Tony Perkins is serving as interim pastor. The Republican nominee and his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, stopped at Greenwell…
Conflict is part of the church’s DNA. Learn to live with it.
When the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina needed someone to lead a conflict resolution workshop recently, they thought of Rubin Ortiz. “I have kind of a Ph.D. in conflict resolution,” said Ortiz, pastor of La Primera Iglesia Bautista in Deltona,…
Survey suggests continuing resistance among Baptists to LGBT inclusion
A little over a year after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, Baptists remain among the most resistant to LGBT inclusion among U.S. Protestant groups, according to new data from LifeWay Research.
In Baton Rouge, devastating flood temporarily supplants racial tensions
In a strange irony, the floodwaters spreading misery without regard to race have at least temporarily calmed the racial tensions in Baton Rouge, La. The city has been wracked by tensions caused by multiple shootings in July.
Lott Carey tackles consumer debt
The Lott Carey Global Christian Missional Community has agreed to collaborate with a national faith-based initiative to empower communities and families by liberating them from consumer debt. The predominantly black Baptist organization announced a new partnership with dfree — a trademarked…
Transitions for the week of 08.19.16
Staff moves, church news and more, updated weekly.
Despite size, Nagasaki Cross inspires reflection on Christian unity, breaking barriers
It is known as the Nagasaki Cross, a small — about 15 inches tall and 7 inches wide — Christian symbol forged from debris found in the wreckage of a middle school located 1,500 feet from where an American plutonium bomb detonated on Aug. 9, 1945.
Appeals court upholds award to slain pastor’s widow
A federal appeals court has upheld a $2.4 million judgment against police who seven years ago fatally shot a Southern Baptist preacher they mistook for a suspected drug dealer. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in May that…
Louisiana flood victims need help — including the spiritual kind, pastor says
Most Louisiana flooding victims are still much in the rescue phase, still in shock that their homes, businesses and communities remain underwater. But it won’t be long before they enter a stage of emotional devastation induced by seeing damaged or…