Baptist News Global

Baptist camp hires interim to replace director charged with pedophilia

HERTFORD, N.C. (ABP) — A Baptist association in North Carolina has hired an interim replacement for a camp director arrested last summer on molestation charges. Chowan Baptist Association has employed Matt Thomas, pastor of Riverside Baptist Church in Elizabeth City,…

Church overlooks budget shortfall to give entire offering to Haiti relief

AMARILLO, Texas (ABP) — One Baptist congregation is putting ministry to the hurting in another part of the world ahead of its own financial woes. Paramount Baptist Church in Amarillo, Texas, gave $63,100 to Texas Baptist Men for disaster-relief work…

UCC spokesman says decision to air Tebow Super Bowl ad ‘arbitrary’

CLEVELAND (ABP) — A spokesman for the United Church of Christ says the CBS decision to air a purportedly anti-abortion ad featuring Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Tim Tebow during the Super Bowl shows favoritism to some religious viewpoints over others. Focus…

In jobs-focused State of the Union, Obama also tackles gays in military

WASHINGTON (ABP) — President Obama, in his first official State of the Union address Jan. 27, focused largely on kitchen-table issues and mainly avoided controversial social topics. But he did signal his intent to push harder to allow gay military…

Pastors, hard questions about God, and doubt

By Amy Butler It is not uncommon to encounter me, on occasion (okay, very frequently, actually), complaining bitterly about all the things I did not learn in seminary. In fact, I do have a comprehensive list of such things somewhere,…

The decade in religious liberty

By Brent Walker Dubbed by Time magazine the “decade from hell,” the past 10 years have been ones for which we can say good riddance: September 11, two costly and deadly wars, the economic meltdown. In terms of church-state relations,…

Baptists challenged to wrestle with tough issues of faith and science

AUSTIN—Baylor theology professor Barry Harvey took just two texts to a seminar on science and faith—the Bible and Darwin’s Origin of Species. “Far too often, (discussing faith and science) generates heat rather than light,” Harvey said, introducing the all-day seminar,…

Former California Baptist exec Bill Hogue dead at 82

BROWNWOOD, Texas (ABP) — C.B. "Bill" Hogue, executive director emeritus of the California Southern Baptist Convention, died Jan. 26 in Brownwood, Texas. He observed his 82nd birthday on Jan. 13 and had been receiving treatment for cancer. Hogue was a…

Former Southwest Baptist University athlete pleads guilty to assault

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (ABP) — A former football player at Southwest Baptist University pleaded guilty Jan. 25 to second-degree assault in a 2006 beating that left a Bolivar, Mo., man permanently disabled. Rony Saintil as pictured in his jail booking photo…

ABC seeks doctors, nurses for weeklong stints in Haiti

VALLEY FORGE, Pa. (ABP) — Although aid organizations are discouraging volunteers without disaster or medical expertise from descending on Haiti right now, American Baptist Churches USA says there is still an acute need for medical professionals in the earthquake-devastated country….

Haiti has long been a disaster

(Editor’s note: This is an account from British Baptist aid worker Carwyn Hill on his trip from northern Haiti to help earthquake victims in Port-au-Prince in the immediate aftermath of the Jan. 12 quake that devastated the Haitian capital. A…

A lesson in giving from Liberia

By Colleen Walker Burroughs My fifth-grade daughter’s face was wide-eyed with wonder as our carpool drove to school. National Public Radio was reporting on Liberia’s commitment to send $50,000 in aid to Haiti. “Liberia is sending money to Haiti?” she…

Supreme Court slides into partisanship

Before the fireworks, be careful what you drink

The contemptible case of Clarence Thomas

The permanent paradoxes of Christian thinking about war