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…
Go tell it, clearly and simply, experts say
By Vicki Brown “Go Tell It on the Mountain” and other popular Christmas songs encourage Christians to share the gospel with joy, but theologians say that in a society increasingly unfamiliar with the Bible, clarity is key. “We need greater…
South African Baptists rebuke Westboro
This story was edited after posting to correct an error in the seventh paragraph. By Bob Allen Baptists in South Africa denounced Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., for comments reported around the world claiming the country’s recently deceased former…
Abuse trial delayed for accused pastor
By Bob Allen The trial of a Missouri Baptist pastor charged with sexual child abuse scheduled earlier this month has been postponed. Moniteau County Circuit Judge Kenneth Hayden granted a continuance Dec. 2 in the case against Travis Smith, pastor…
Lilly grants address ministers’ finances
By Bob Allen Seminaries tied to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Southern Baptist Convention were among 51 theology schools across the United States awarded more than $12.3 million by the Lilly Endowment in the second round of its initiative to…
Papers filed in Glorieta lawsuit
By Bob Allen An Arkansas couple suing Southern Baptist Convention officials in federal court claim that secular courts have jurisdiction over the internal workings of a church when it involves property disputes or misuse of its articles of incorporation. In…