By Bob Allen Southern Baptist Convention ethics leader Russell Moore reacted with shock and disbelief to a grand jury decision in Staten Island, N.Y., not to indict a police officer captured on video using a chokehold to subdue a non-compliant…
Faith groups support tax break for Americans with disabilities
By Bob Allen Twenty-eight faith groups including American Baptist Churches USA and its American Baptist Home Mission Societies endorsed legislation in Congress allowing Americans with disabilities to open tax-sheltered savings account for certain long-term expenditures. Members of the Interfaith Disability…
Baptists oppose discrimination ordinance in Arkansas
By Bob Allen Voters in Fayetteville, Ark., will vote in a special election Dec. 9 on whether to repeal a civil rights ordinance the City Council approved in August despite opposition from community leaders including a representative of Southern Baptist…
Mundane work, internal politics drive many from church, experts say
By Jeff Brumley A team of sociologists in Colorado say they were stunned recently by data showing a growing wave of once-dedicated church goers leaving their congregations. Their findings inspired the now-popular term “dones,” denoting Christians deciding to go it alone on…
ERLC supports woman claiming discrimination for being pregnant
By Bob Allen The Southern Baptist Convention Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission joined other groups in siding with a former UPS delivery driver forced to go on unpaid leave when she became pregnant in a case argued before the U.S….
Baptist group receives $182 million from feds to care for immigrant children
By Bob Allen The Obama administration paid a group related to the Baptist General Convention of Texas more than $182 million to care for undocumented immigrant children at two military facilities for four months this summer. According to documents obtained…
Former youth minister pleads guilty to abuse
By Bob Allen A 74-year-old former Southern Baptist youth pastor pleaded guilty Dec. 1 to six charges of sexually abusing minors in Jefferson County, Ala. Mack Allen Davis, former youth minister at Lakeside Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., still faces…
D.C. church focuses on next generation with Explorer Camp
By Emily Holladay National Baptist Memorial Church rests in the heart of Columbia Heights, one of Washington’s most diverse neighborhoods. Located less than two miles from Howard University, the nearly 150-year-old historically black university known for its important role in…
Half of Americans want separation between church and state in marriage
By Bob Allen About half of Americans and a quarter of Protestant ministers believe clergy should say “I don’t” to the tradition of solemnizing marriages as agents of the state, according to a new poll by LifeWay Research. The research…
Welton Gaddy decries burning of Brown family church
By Bob Allen Interfaith Alliance head Welton Gaddy called on authorities to quickly investigate a Thanksgiving week arson that destroyed the Ferguson, Mo., church where the family of slain teenager Michael Brown has attended since July. Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms…
For SBC, 1984 was the year of the pivot
By Bob Allen In 1949 George Orwell published Nineteen Eighty-Four, a dystopian novel imagining a future totalitarian state where people are constantly reminded of mass surveillance by the slogan “Big Brother is watching you.” Thirty years ago, Russell Dilday, then…
Officials get mixed messages about right of conscience in marriage laws
By Bob Allen Government clerks have no legal right to refuse to issue a marriage license to same-sex couples in a state where gay marriage is legal, Americans United for Separation of Church and State said in a legal memorandum…