By Bob Allen A lifelong Baptist who advocates on behalf of clergy sex-abuse victims says the media is doing more to promote healing and children’s safety than pastors who try to keep it out of the headlines. Amy Smith, Houston…
Harnessing youth for disaster work
By Jeff Brumley Pushed to their limits by a busy year of natural and man-made catastrophes, Texas Baptists are raising an army of youth to bolster disaster recovery campaigns across the state and region. It’s called Bounce and is billed…
Hobby Lobby appeals to Supreme Court
By Bob Allen Hobby Lobby has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether the government can force it to provide health insurance for employees that covers methods of birth control that the company’s Southern Baptist owners believe can cause…
SBC leader speaks at Mormon school
By Bob Allen Mormons and Southern Baptists may not see each other in heaven, but they might in jail, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler said in an Oct. 21 lecture at Brigham Young University. “I do not believe…
‘Intentional’ Christians live among poor
By Daniel Wallace In one of northern Philadelphia’s most-dangerous neighborhoods, a 20-person Christian group thrives, embracing a lifestyle of radical community. Shane Claiborne, leader of the 10 households in the Kensington neighborhood, helped found The Simple Way in 1995 as…
Immigration up next for Obama, Baptists
By Jeff Brumley With the government shutdown over, Republican and Tea Party leaders say they are primed to battle President Obama over one of his top agenda items, one just as big as health care: immigration reform. But any such…
SBC leader: Religious liberty under assault
By Bob Allen Southern Baptists’ top public policy spokesman compared current threats to religious liberty to those faced by America’s founders Sunday morning on Fox & Friends. “This is just one fiery rafter in a burning house,” Russell Moore of…
Advocate says SBC leader gives bad advice
By Bob Allen A leading advocate for victims of clergy sex abuse says a Southern Baptist leader’s advice not to take congregational disputes to the media “flies in the face of common sense and civic duty.” David Clohessy, national director…
Richmond association seeks to clarify values, member criteria to bridge divide over homosexuality
RICHMOND — The Richmond Baptist Association has authorized a study committee to clarify the association’s values and restructure its membership model in an attempt to resolve deep division among its churches over a decision last spring not to dismiss an…
Meet the nominals: Not synonymous with the ‘Nones,’ but claim religious identity in name only
(RNS) — They’re rarely at worship services and indifferent to doctrine. And they’re surprisingly fuzzy on Jesus. But it’s not just Jews. It’s a phenomenon among U.S. Christians, too. Meet the “Nominals” — people who claim a religious identity but…
Small churches currently unable to afford health insurance for staff may benefit from Obamacare
(ABP) — A new program designed to make it easier to buy health insurance for small businesses has potential to become a major source of medical coverage for church staff and employees, says Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Church Benefits Board President…
‘We’re in a fight,’ GuideStone Financial Services head O.S. Hawkins says in challenging health law
(ABP) — The Southern Baptist Convention agency that provides insurance for denominational employees filed a lawsuit Oct. 11 claiming the Affordable Care Act violates the religious liberty of faith-based organizations that do not meet the government’s narrow definition of “religious…