Some who 23 years ago worked for passage of a law ensuring broad protection of religious freedom say now the Religious Freedom Restoration Act needs tweaking so it can’t be used to discriminate against others. Groups including Americans United for…
Prior to Ky. primary, Clinton appears at joint Baptist worship service
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton drew inspiration from a joint worship service combining two Kentucky Baptist congregations working to build community unity during a campaign visit to Louisville in advance of Tuesday’s Kentucky primary. The Democratic candidate for president began…
Transitions for the week of 05.20.16
The latest staff moves, church news and more, updated weekly.
Author says women’s narratives shed new light on SBC conflict
Scholars have analyzed and dissected the turbulent period of 1979-1990 in the Southern Baptist Convention known collectively as the conservative resurgence, fundamentalist takeover or SBC holy war from almost every angle, but until recently most have focused on only half…
Texas Baptist school allows limited campus carry
Breaking ranks with most private colleges opting out of a state law requiring public universities to allow handguns in dorms, classrooms and campus buildings, East Texas Baptist University will allow the president to authorize selected full-time faculty or staff who…
How Jeanne Bishop forgave her sister’s killer and is working for his good.
It took Jeanne Bishop 20 years just to speak his name. That, she believed, would attribute a level of humanity to the man who shot her pregnant sister and brother-in-law to death in their own house — a level of…
Ed Stetzer leaving LifeWay for Wheaton College
Missiologist and researcher Ed Stetzer is leaving after nine years as executive director of LifeWay Research to become executive director of the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism at Wheaton College, the Christian liberal arts school near Chicago announced May 16….
Growing movement seeks ‘freedom from stuff’
The spiritual connection between a 58-inch flat screen TV and the human soul may seem tenuous to many Americans. It may be even harder to believe how that elegantly simple IKEA coffee table makes life more complicated. But rest assured,…
Supreme Court sidesteps constitutional challenge to Obamacare
The U.S. Supreme Court sidestepped the constitutional question May 16 of whether Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate substantially burdens the rights of certain faith-based organizations to exercise their religion, sending seven cases back to lower courts after both sides conceded there may…
Baylor names social work dean
Baylor University professor and administrator Jon Singletary has been named dean of the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work, filling a vacancy created by the death of the school’s founding dean and namesake from pancreatic cancer last September. Baylor’s…
Companies report rise of chaplains in the land of cubicles
On any given Sunday, most Americans do not attend church. Most will, however, show up to work throughout the week. These individuals still experience times of uncertainty, personal and family turmoil, loss of love ones and other moments where they…
Jimmy Carter, Gregg Allman headline Mercer graduation
Pomp, circumstance and rock and roll are in store this weekend for graduates of historically Baptist Mercer University in Macon, Ga., set to hear an address by former President Jimmy Carter and a performance by musician Gregg Allman, who will…