Baptist News Global

OUT LOUD

“Whoever controls the words that are used in translation ultimately controls how we are able to think about theological issues. The words open or close doors for our understanding of God. And ultimately, the words determine who has status in…

Christians are as susceptible as anyone to Internet rumor-mongering. What does that say about us?

WASHINGTON (ABP) — Thanks to the Internet, some gullible American Christians can engage in one of their favorite hobbies — digging up the metaphorical corpse of Madalyn Murray O’Hair and rhetorically flogging it — more easily than ever before. Even…

FAITH SHAPERS: The payoff

I mentioned previously that I have been taking my daughter Abby to the nursing home. This has turned out to be a spectacular success. She not only looks forward to these visits but also stays on the lookout for helping…

BGAV REPORTS: 2010 Proposed Budget

2010 Proposed Virginia Baptist Cooperative Missions Budget 2010 Proposed Virginia Baptist Cooperative Missions Budget (continued)

Lilly-funded McAfee program to help grads serving in first churches

ATLANTA (ABP) — A $1 million grant is funding a new center at Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology that aims to create a new paradigm for transitioning new ministers from the academic setting into the realities of local-church ministry….

U.S. religious groups square off over bill imposing new Iran sanctions

WASHINGTON (ABP) — With a key vote looming in the House of Representatives, religious leaders weighed in on both sides of the debate over new sanctions against Iran. Thirty-four conservative religious leaders, including the Southern Baptist Convention's top lobbyist, wrote…

The eyes of Jesus are upon me

By Barry Howard When I got up this morning, I had this sensation that I was being watched. As I went to the kitchen to make the coffee (hazelnut, to be exact), I looked over my shoulder to see if…

Did Huckabee rely too much on faith in commuting prisoners’ sentences?

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (ABP) — The Dec. 1 police shooting of suspected cop killer Maurice Clemmons has renewed allegations that, as governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee paid more attention to preachers and professed jailhouse conversions than prosecutors and parole boards…

FAITH DIGEST

Appeals court upholds ban on religious songs. A federal appeals court in New Jersey has upheld a policy that allows secular holiday songs but prohibits religious Christmas carols in Maplewood-South Orange public schools. A three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S….

Handwritten ‘Bible Across America’ sells for $15,000

WASHINGTON (RNS) — The first handwritten copy of the New International Version Bible sold on eBay for more than $15,000. Zondervan’s handwritten Bible Across America project marked the 30th anniversary of the popular New International Version translation. The Christian publisher…

As scandal-plagued pastor returns, questions linger about ‘restoration’

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (RNS) — After disgraced evangelical leader Ted Haggard decided to start holding prayer meetings at his Colorado home, advisers and observers, perhaps not surprisingly, reacted with disappointment. But the fact he’s chosen to host the meetings within…

Zondervan pulls kung fu book; Is it ‘Rickshaw Rally’ revisited?

WASHINGTON (RNS) — Evangelical publisher Zondervan has pulled a leadership book featuring a kung fu theme after Asian-American Christian leaders led an online protest against its imagery. The book, Deadly Viper Character Assassins: A Kung Fu Survival Guide for Life…

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