Why coercive religious politics undermine Christianity and democracy

ST. LOUIS (ABP) — Southern Baptist student missionary Gregory Gomez IV died July 5 in a bus crash in Peru. The 22-year-old Gomez was serving as a short-term field worker with the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board. According to…

RALEIGH, N.C. (ABP) — Jesse Helms, the Baptist former senator who battled communist oppression but backed right-wing dictators and opposed abortion while appealing to racist sentiment, was a polarizing figure who was lionized by some conservatives and vilified by many…

(ABP) — Col. Bob Page, command chaplain for the Air Force’s Air Combat Command, believes that, while the military branches have developed more programs and services for military families, support from churches and other non-governmental groups remains crucial. That support…

(ABP) — Divorce — the word seemed to leap out of the e-mail from her soldier husband that Nancy (not her real name) had so eagerly opened.   Discussions of divorce among military personnel generally conjure the idea of a…

DALLAS (ABP) — People remember the stories, because with each retelling, moments come alive once again. In largely illiterate cultures, such as many in southern Sudan, storytelling preserves hundreds of years of history for people groups dependent on oral records….

(ABP) — Sounds of laughter, tambourines and native instruments reverberate through a tiny apartment as a small group of Christians gathers for fervent worship. Despite oppression under Islam and the Soviet system, these Central Asian Christians dance and sing with…

(ABP) — Social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace are redefining the way many Americans build and maintain relationships — and also how their churches communicate. In the last few years, relating to social contacts through such sites has become practically…

WASHINGTON (ABP) — Veteran human-rights activist Felice Gaer will once again serve as chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Gaer, a member of the independent federal panel since 2001, has twice been chair and twice vice…

ZANESVILLE, Ohio (ABP) – Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama vowed July 1 to carry on the best parts — and dump the worst — of President Bush’s so-called “faith-based initiative.” “I still believe it’s a good idea to have…

ATLANTA (ABP) — Dee Donalson grasped a tiny hand and helped an Ethiopian kindergartener trace over stones lined in the shape of the numeral 2. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field worker, whose front porch serves as a makeshift classroom, teaches…

PHILIPPI, W. Va. (ABP) — Michael Clyburn began his duties July 1 as president of Alderson-Broaddus College, an American Baptist school in Philippi, W. Va. Clyburn, who previously served as president of Louisburg College in North Carolina, became the eighth…