LYNCHBURG, Va. — Virginia Baptists will consider in November a proposal to renew ties to Averett University, a 152-year-old school in Danville, Va., whose relationship with the state’s Baptists was severed in 2005 in a dispute over homosexuality. The Virginia…
Balance needed to make churches welcome and safe places
By definition, a "sanctuary" should be a place of refuge and protection where people feel welcome and feel safe. In practice, churches struggle with what it means to open their doors to everyone while providing a sense of security for…
Supreme Court hears arguments in important church-state case
WASHINGTON (ABP) – The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Oct. 5 in a closely watched case involving a church’s right to hire or fire ministers for reasons like religious doctrine that in other settings would be job discrimination. “The…
Man sentenced in church embezzlement
Michael Whitt Barbara Whitt GREENVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) – A man convicted of conspiring with his mother to steal $1.5 million from a Tennessee Baptist church was sentenced Oct. 4 to just over four years in prison. Senior U.S. District Judge…
Pastor acquitted on molestation count
TUSCUMBIA, Mo. (ABP) — A Missouri Baptist minister has been acquitted in a child molestation charge heard in Miller County Sept. 28. Travis Smith, 41, pastor of First Baptist Church in Stover, Mo., was acquitted in the yearlong case after the jury…
High court says World Vision can hire only Christians
WASHINGTON (ABP) – The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld a lower-court ruling that the Christian humanitarian organization World Vision can fire employees over religious doctrine. The high court declined without comment Oct. 3 to review an August 2010 ruling by…
Former preacher sentenced for incest
ALEXANDRIA, La. (ABP) – A former Louisiana Baptist preacher was sentenced to 25 years in prison Oct. 3 for sexual abuse of a young female relative. Holland Farrell McMorris, 64, was arrested in June 2010 and charged with 15 counts…
Supreme Court rejects challenge to Obama’s eligibility
WASHINGTON (ABP) – The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Oct. 3 a challenge to Barack Obama’s eligibility to serve as president. Justices refused without comment to review a February decision by the California Supreme Court dismissing a lawsuit that claimed election…
U.S. Supreme Court says World Vision can hire only Christians
WASHINGTON (ABP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld a lower-court ruling that the Christian humanitarian organization World Vision can fire employees over religious doctrine. The high court declined without comment Oct. 3 to review an August 2010 ruling by…
Professor says Adam’s sin was failure to lead
FORT WORTH, Texas (ABP) – A Southern Baptist seminary professor said at a recent conference that Adam’s sin was in listening to his wife. Thomas White, vice president for student services and associate professor of systematic theology at the seminary…
BWA voices solidarity with Iranian pastor facing death sentence
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (ABP) – An international Baptist leader called on Baptists around the world to call on their government leaders to advocate on behalf of an Iranian pastor sentenced to death after refusing to recant his faith. Last week…
Study: Bible readers oppose gender-inclusive translations
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) – American Bible readers overwhelmingly oppose gender-neutral translations of the Bible, according to a new study by LifeWay Research. Eighty-two percent of participants in a study released Oct. 1 said verses in biblical Hebrew and Greek that…