By Bob Allen A Liberian Baptist leader celebrated the World Health Organization’s declaration that the country is Ebola-free, making it the first of the three hardest-hit West African nations to bring the epidemic to a formal end. “Forty-two days have…
Study says Baptists losing their market share
By Bob Allen For every American who joins a Baptist church, two others who were raised Baptist are leaving the denomination, according to a Pew Center Report released May 12. The report, America’s Changing Religious Landscape, found nearly one in five (19.2…
Don’t plan any funerals for religion just yet, Baylor scholars say
By Ken Camp Reports about the imminent death of religion, the rise of secularization and the growth of atheism largely ignore facts or rely on faulty research, scholars from Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion said during a recent conference. Reports…
Book tells story of love in the time of Ebola
By Marv Knox When Ebola arrived in America in the autumn of 2014, fear spread faster and further than the deadly virus. But hope sustained the family at the epicenter of the hysteria. My Spirit Took You In: The Romance…
Former Baptist leader Winfred Moore dies
By Bob Allen Two-time failed Southern Baptist Convention presidential candidate Winfred Moore — a Texas pastor who ran on a centrist platform aimed at depoliticizing the denomination in the 1980s — died May 8 in Amarillo, Texas. He was 95. Moore, pastor…
Baptists struggle to sell or share sacred space
By Jeff Brumley The Catholic Archdiocese of Boston went to court this week to force a group of parishioners out of the church it is trying to close, along with many others. National Public Radio reported that 100 members of…
Religious groups vow to break D.C. anti-discrimination law
By Bob Allen Anti-abortion groups with offices in Washington, D.C., — including the Southern Baptist Convention’s public-policy arm — have vowed to defy a new city ordinance barring discriminating against women based on their reproductive health choices. Hours after the U.S. Senate…
Evidence released against Baptist minister charged with murder
By Bob Allen A Baptist minister’s wife murdered in her Alabama home in July 2013 knew about her husband’s secret homosexual orientation and romantic relationships with out-of-state paramours, according to a court document filed May 6. Prosecutors also claim Richard…
Samford students inspired Baptist ministry along the Rio Grande
By Jack Brymer A new book by Myralyn Allgood, professor emerita of Spanish at Samford University, celebrates the long-term role of students from an Alabama Baptist school in Texas Baptists’ ministry along the Rio Grande. Nearly 40 years ago, Allgood…
Nepalese Baptists participate in global relief effort for quake victims
By Jeff Brumley Nepalese Baptists, along with many international relief organizations, are actively engaged in responding to the April 25 Nepal earthquake. The Nepal Baptist Church Council is providing immediate food, shelter and medical needs, including offering trauma healing and…
Critics say National Day of Prayer divides Americans by faith
By Bob Allen Today’s National Day of Prayer is a constitutionally suspect government endorsement of religion that ought to be abandoned, according to Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “The government should not be giving out prayer instructions,”…
Central Seminary seeks to foster racial reconciliation
By Bob Allen A pastor and seminary professor who organized a peaceful prayer response in Kansas City prior to the grand jury decision in Ferguson, Mo., last November is now recruiting communities of faith to host “prayer tables” intended to…