By Bob Allen A former Louisiana College administrator sued the Louisiana Baptist Convention-affiliated school March 11 claiming wrongful termination after he filed a whistleblower report alleging misconduct by the school’s president. Timothy Johnson, former executive vice president at Louisiana College,…
White House, faith leaders, discuss disability
By Bob Allen American Baptist Home Mission Societies was among 16 faith groups represented at a White House meeting March 10 on issues including support within the religious community for a U.N. disability treaty opposed by conservative Republicans in the…
New York church giving away assault rifle
By Bob Allen An independent Baptist pastor in upstate New York is offering a drawing for an AR-15 assault rifle on March 23, one-upping the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s controversial “Second Amendment Celebrations,” which give away shotguns and rifles to lure…
Mohler says gay marriage a religious-liberty threat
By Bob Allen “Religious liberty has never been threatened in our lifetimes, and probably in terms of the American experiment, like it will be threatened with same-sex marriage,” Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, warned in a video…
Pastor: Not all Baptists OK with guns in church
By Bob Allen Twenty-five Georgia Baptists including staff members of the Decatur-based Cooperative Baptist Fellowship joined a pastor in disputing claims that a Georgia Baptist Convention official spoke for Georgia Baptists when he testified in support of legislation to allow…
In quest to empower the vulnerable, Global Women hears ‘heartbreaking stories’
By Jennifer Harris Dault “We are all part of an amazing story — God’s story.” That was the message Cindy Dawson, executive director of Global Women, hoped to communicate at her group’s Summit March 7-8 in St. Louis. The Summit…
North American Baptists ask, what will we look like in 50 years?
By Robert Dilday The North American Baptist Fellowship marked its 50th anniversary March 6-7 with a nod to the past while focusing on what the group’s general secretary called one of its greatest challenges — finding a mission and vision…
Man challenging Alabama gay-marriage ban a Southwestern Seminary grad
By Bob Allen A Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary graduate and one-time Baptist campus minister is suing the state of Alabama for refusing to recognize his legal same-sex marriage performed in another state. Paul Hard, who earned a master-of-divinity degree from…
Minister sentenced for child sex abuse
By Bob Allen A former children’s minister at an Alabama Baptist church was sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to child sex abuse March 7. Jeffrey Dale Eddie, 41, longtime associate pastor for children and church administration…
Baptist groups at forefront of ecumenical disaster relief
By Jeff Brumley In an age of declining respect for churches and an overall disinterest in religion, sometimes it takes a tornado or earthquake to show the world that Baptists and other Christians can, in fact, do something right. That…
Union University murder suspect gets mental evaluation
By Bob Allen A Union University student charged with murdering his fiancée and staging it to look like a suicide is undergoing mental evaluation to determine if he is competent to stand trial. Charles Pittman, 21, a Christian ministry major…
Baptists fined in Belarus for illegal worship
By Bob Allen Four Baptists in Belarus paid fines after losing appeals for holding worship services without government permission. Forum 18, an international news service that specializes in religious-freedom issues, reported that Pastor Aleksandr Zolotarev, arrested in a Dec. 22…