Baptist News Global

Big-city mayors come out for same-sex marriage

NEW YORK (RNS) — A bipartisan coalition of 80 U.S. mayors on Jan. 20 launched a “Freedom to Marry” campaign to build public support for giving same-sex couples the right to marry under U.S. and state laws. “It is not…

Amish man says home electricity OK if it gets him out of jail

CLEVELAND (RNS) — The leader of an Amish splinter sect who is being held in jail on federal hate crime charges related to a series of beard-cutting attacks says he is not opposed to allowing electricity installed in his home….

Obama holds firm on contraception coverage

NEW YORK (RNS) — The Obama administration said Jan. 20 that it will not broaden the religious exemption in new rules that require employers to provide contraception coverage to employees, a move that angered religious groups and opened a high…

Faith-based anti-trafficking efforts make a difference

Small details in the lives of the troubled students Tyler Shoesmith works with tell more than they would like him to know. It's the words they use, the clothes they wear — even the age of the people they spend…

Mexican poverty creates climate for exploitation

Poverty in Mexico fuels the destructive cycle of human exploitation and trafficking that consumes many young lives, experts on both sides of the Rio Grande agree. A volunteer at Cornerstone Children's Ranch in Quemado, less than two miles from the…

WMU advocates for children victimized by trafficking

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The sticker in the hotel window reassured the visitor — this business would help protect children from predators while they and their parents are guests. "The Child Safe Zone," a project of Georgia Woman's Missionary Union and…

OPINION: Special treatment hurts both church and state

NEW YORK (RNS) — It’s time for religion to lose its special treatment in the Constitution and in tax codes. Not because religion has ceased to matter, but because it matters more than ever in our increasingly unethical society, and…

HERITAGE: ABCs of Virginia Baptists

Our favorite 5-year-old recently had a rare few minutes alone with his grandparents. He suddenly got very serious and shared that he was having difficulty learning the alphabet. He said that during the school day he goes to a special…

OPINION: Somebodyâ€™s daughter

I was at my daughter’s school when her teacher asked, “Did you see what your daughter wrote? All the teachers are coming down to read it.” My daughter is 7 years old and in the first grade and anything she…

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Regrets attitudes to women pastors

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is a major support for Baptist women seeking to serve God as chaplains. Under the current climate in the Southern Baptist Convention it is impossible for an ordained Baptist woman to obtain endorsement as a chaplain….

TRENDING: Designer faith, part 1

“If World War II-era warbler Kate Smith sang today, her anthem could be Gods Bless America,” USA Today recently quipped. It’s a remark about America's drift toward “designer faiths,” custom tailored to fit personal preferences. John Chandler Sociologist Robert Bellah…

Burn victim in Jamaica reunites with benefactor

DANVILLE, Va. — It was a brief but glorious reunion at the end of December for two women who share a bond reaching back more than 25 years. “You’re even prettier than I thought you’d be,” Danville resident Ann Wright,…

ICE agents are least-trained law enforcement in America

Coalition campaign seeks to ‘Melt ICE’

Hegseth’s testosterone testing plays into MAGA mythology

In conversation with George Mason