Advocates and families of people with intellectual disabilities are pleading with Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to halt the Aug. 5 execution of an inmate suffering from brain damage, dementia and lifelong cognitive impairment. While federal legal precedent and state statute…
Republicans are more likely to identify as evangelical Protestants than are Democrats
Republicans are significantly more likely to identify as Christians than Democrats, and they have a distinct preference for evangelical Protestant denominations. Pew Research Center’s recent Religious Landscape Survey looked at the correlation between political party (Republican and Democrat) and political…
US may follow states in funding for crisis pregnancy centers
Red state legislatures are spending more tax dollars on faith-based anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers, and federal funding may soon follow. Meanwhile, Texas is increasing oversight of wasteful state-funded centers, and a Massachusetts lawsuit over botched diagnosis could slow the movement’s…
UMC immigration webinar gives facts, cautions and hope
More than 2,100 participants logged in July 17 to a United Methodist-sponsored webinar that gave 90 minutes of spiritual encouragement, prayer and information — but not legal counsel — on birthright citizenship and immigration enforcement. United Methodist leaders organized the…
Trump administration arrests ‘Interfaith Imam,’ setting off protests
Tensions are boiling over in Ohio as immigration authorities continue to detain Imam Ayman Soliman, a former Cincinnati Children’s Hospital chaplain whose asylum status was revoked last month. More than a dozen demonstrators have been arrested at vigils organized since…
Baptists in Australia, New Zealand and Canada wrestle with LGBTQ inclusion
Like it long has in the U.S., disagreement over same-sex marriage and congregational autonomy are also driving a wedge between Baptists in Australia. Divisions began to simmer in 2022 when the New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory Baptist Association…
Trump administration won’t consider violence against women in immigration
The Justice Department has determined women no longer may cite gender-based violence as grounds for seeking asylum in the U.S. The agency’s Board of Immigration Appeals ruled July 18 “that a particular social group defined by the alien’s sex or…
Ministry jobs and more
Baptist News Global provides a free listing of ministry-related jobs for Baptist churches, theological institutions and organizations across the United States. Each free posting is for 30 days and is limited to 150 words. Postings may be extended another 30…
New book explores missions from viewpoint of MKs
Mission work historically has been key to evangelical self-understanding and their view of the United States as a Christian nation favored by God, historian and author Holly Berkley Fletcher said. “Christian nationalism is based on this grandiose idea of what…
That idea about US taking over Gaza isn’t gone yet
U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to evict Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and have the U.S. take it over seemed laughable when he first proposed it in February. Now, he appears to have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his…
Widowed Americans are more likely to be Christians
Among widowed Americans, 80% identify as Christians. That’s almost 20 percentage points higher than the national share of Christian-identifying adults, which is 62%. This is among findings of the latest Pew Research Center Religious Landscape Study, which found differences in…
300 faith leaders urge Baylor to ‘do better’ with LGBTQ community
Three hundred pastors and faith leaders have signed a second letter to Baylor University decrying revocation of a $634,000 grant to study loneliness and rejection of women and the LGBTQ community in churches. This letter comes one week after a…