Baptist News Global

Journeying from despair

By Amy Butler Desolation. Dry, unyielding, lifeless, dark. Wind whistles through what was abandoned, echoes of emptiness filling the silence. No water runs here, no urgent life pushing up through cracks in the pavement. Just dry, empty, dead landscape, scorched…

Obama sidesteps some controversies over U.S. faith-based program

WASHINGTON (ABP) — President Obama issued a long-awaited executive order Nov. 17 altering the government’s faith-based efforts, to generally positive reviews from those across the ideological spectrum on church-state issues. But some religious-liberty advocates expressed disappointment that the order avoided…

Judge refuses to block Tennessee mosque and Islamic center

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (ABP) — A judge ruled Nov. 17 that Muslims can move forward with plans to build a new mosque and Islamic center in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Chancellor Robert Corlew III heard a total of eight days of testimony spread…

Israeli leaders find common cause with American evangelicals

JERUSALEM (RNS) — When Texas megachurch pastor John Hagee wrapped up a visit to Israel on Nov. 15 with 40 pastors in tow, he sought out the places where Jesus walked, preached and prayed some 2,000 years ago. But there…

U.S. opposes U.N. ban on defamation of religion, says secretary of state

WASHINGTON (ABP) — The United States continues to oppose a proposed ban on defamation of religion currently before the United Nations, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Nov. 17. "Now, some people propose that to protect religious freedom, we must…

New mosque construction gets green light

Evangelical support for Israel at all-time high

Baptists hail release of Burmese democratic leader

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (ABP) — Leaders of the Baptist World Alliance rejoiced at Myanmar's release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest and expressed hope that the act represents a symbolic gesture signaling greater freedoms for people…

Survey: Potential religious landmines for Obama, GOP in next election

WASHINGTON (ABP) — President Obama and both the Democratic and Republican parties all face tough questions from faith-based voters going into the 2012 election cycle, a new survey on religion and the 2010 midterm elections suggests. The Public Religion Research Institute released results…

Retired Florida Baptist newspaper editor Edgar Cooper dies

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (ABP) — Edgar Cooper, editor emeritus of the Florida Baptist Witness, died Nov. 14 at Baptist Medical Center in Jacksonville, Fla. He was one day shy of his 92nd birthday. Edgar Cooper Cooper, a pastor for two decades…

Legendary Oklahoma pastor Warren Hultgren dies

TULSA, Okla. (ABP) — Warren Hultgren, whose sense of humor and compassionate care endeared him to generations of Oklahomans as pastor of Tulsa’s First Baptist Church, died Nov. 14, according to church officials. He was 89. Warren Hultgren, in an…

Os Guinness: Civility needed in global public square

KELLER, Texas (ABP) — In an increasingly connected world where “religion is furiously alive,” the matter of how people of faith can live with their deep differences assumes growing importance, social critic and author Os Guinness told a Texas Baptist…

‘Be careful of Scripture heavy in law but light on grace,’ Wesley warns

‘Show up and do something,’ ACLU leader urges

From the South Side to the South Lawn and back again

Democracy as a moral practice, not just a system