By Bob Allen A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction Dec. 20 prohibiting enforcement of the federal health care law known as Obamacare saying the Southern Baptist Convention’s insurance provider has legal standing to challenge mandatory coverage of contraceptives viewed…
Critics: ‘Duck Dynasty’ star no role model
By Jeff Brumley The volcanic controversy surrounding “Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson has been a double-whammy for moderate and progressive Christians. First there is the anti-gay, pro-Jim Crow GQ magazine interview with Robertson, a professed Christian, which ignited the controversy on…
Starr: Hobby Lobby case tests liberty
By Bob Allen Baylor University President Ken Starr identified the pending case involving Hobby Lobby over mandated contraception coverage in the Affordable Care Act as a crucial test for religious liberty at a recent international conference on Christianity and freedom….
Is ‘Duck Dynasty’ the next SBC cause?
By Bob Allen A year after targeting the Boy Scouts for dropping their ban on openly gay youth, Southern Baptists meeting June 10-11 in Baltimore may have found a new cause célèbre in a reality TV show star suspended by…
SBC leaders back ‘Duck Dynasty’ star
By Bob Allen Southern Baptist Convention leaders termed “Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson, suspended by A&E for controversial anti-gay statements in a magazine interview, the latest casualty in America’s culture war. “[T]he controversy over Duck Dynasty sends a clear signal…
Gushee to work with CBF on advocacy
By Bob Allen David Gushee, Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics and director of the Center for Theology and Public Life at Mercer University, begins a one-year term in January as theologian-in-residence for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. “My task will…
Busy year ahead for religious liberty, BJC
By Jeff Brumley In some ways, 2013 was a typical year for the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, with legal briefs to file, politicians and Supreme Court justices to sway and religious liberty to defend. In other ways, it was a ground-breaking year…
Smithwick out at Ky. Baptist home
By Bob Allen The president of a Baptist child care agency has resigned after a no-confidence vote in November by the Kentucky Baptist Convention for recommending that Sunrise Children’s Services drop its ban on hiring gays. No formal announcement was…
New job reopens ex-Muslim controversy
By Bob Allen The head of the Georgia Baptist Convention has added his blessing to the hiring of a college president accused in the past of faking an “ex-Muslim” testimony he used to rise to fame. “Dr. Ergun Caner is…
ALMOST READY
By Jeff Brumley Through her teens and early 20s, Sarah Turner believed it was her cerebral palsy that barred her way to happiness, doomed her future and ignited the anger toward her maker. “I thought God hated me because he…
HSU grad beats limits of cerebral palsy
By Jeff Brumley Through her teens and early 20s, Sarah Turner believed it was her cerebral palsy that barred her way to happiness, doomed her future and ignited the anger toward her maker. “I thought God hated me because he…
Minister held in wife’s death leaving U.S.
By Bob Allen An Alabama Baptist minister questioned this summer in connection with his wife’s unsolved murder has plans to move overseas. Richard Shahan, placed on administrative leave as children’s minister at First Baptist Church of Birmingham, Ala., after his…