Baptist News Global

Peck: Christians and Muslims should speak with, not about, each other

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (ABP) — Christians and Muslims should speak with each other rather than about each other, a prominent European Baptist leader told reporters prior to a celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Baptist movement July 24. Tony Peck,…

A free press essential for free Baptists

By David Currie I had the pleasure of meeting Walter Cronkite, who died July 17 at age 92, several times in my service on the board of The Interfaith Alliance. He supported our work out of a deep commitment to…

Bible helped set captives free, sheriff says

COVINGTON, La. (RNS) — An Alabama woman used the spine of a Bible to conceal several hacksaw blades that helped her husband and three other inmates escape a maximum-security prison. Claudia Buras was booked into the St. Tammany Parish jail…

FAITH DIGEST

Evangelical scientist nominated to head national agency. Francis Collins, the researcher who mapped the human genome and navigated clashes between his Christian faith and science, has been nominated by President Obama to lead the National Institutes of Health. An atheist…

Baptist Extension Board expands loan policy to assist churches struggling in flat economy

RICHMOND — Virginia Baptist churches which are struggling with financial shortfalls may find some relief as a result of a new policy adopted July 24 by the Baptist Extension Board. For the first time, the Extension Board is offering loans…

Episcopal presiding bishop terms individualistic salvation ‘heresy’ and ‘idolatry’

ANAHEIM, Calif. (ABP) — The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church called the evangelical teaching that individuals can be right with God a “great Western heresy” that is behind many problems facing the church and the wider society. Presiding Bishop…

Christian schools report more closures, see increased drops in enrollment

A Colorado-based organization of Christian schools is reporting that more than 200 schools closed or merged in its last fiscal year. As of June 30, 186 schools had closed and 16 had merged, according to the Association of Christian Schools…

White House advisory council maps out faith-based plans

WASHINGTON (RNS) — Members of a new White House advisory council have mapped out plans to link government and religious groups, from interfaith service projects to regional town halls on fatherhood. Eboo Patel, founder of Chicago-based Interfaith Youth Core, said…

Good Samaritan series hopes to kick-start Christian action

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (RNS) — The camera follows Steve Jones as he walks along an alley in Grand Rapids, Mich., just as he did one early December morning singing “O Holy Night.” He came upon a man sleeping in the…

FAITH SHAPERS: Teaching positive behaviors

Welcome back from our trip to Bizarro World. Hopefully our tongue-in-cheek discussion of Bizarro parenting helped us all to see the unintended consequences of many parenting decisions. Now I’d like for us to return our focus to building virtues. Don’t…

OUT LOUD

“I’ve just taken it in stride. In some cases, being a person of my faith will sometimes even open a door. Other times it will shut a door. You just deal with it.” Keith Ellison The congressman from Minnesota was…

SECOND OPINION: Truly valuing freedom of conscience

Moderate Baptists have distinguished themselves from their more conservative and fundamentalist brothers and sisters for a generation through their elevation of freedom of conscience to a near-absolute good. While the conservatives who came to dominate the Southern Baptist Convention increasingly…

Matthew Vines sets off a debate over what it means to be ‘queer’

Dear Mike Johnson, be careful what you ask for

What, to the white Christian, is America 250?

Four years later, anti-abortionists battle on other fronts