Why coercive religious politics undermine Christianity and democracy

WASHINGTON (ABP) — After a three-year-long debate, the federal Food and Drug Administration has approved wider distribution of a “morning-after” contraceptive, angering some religious conservatives and anti-abortion groups. FDA officials announced Aug. 24 that they had approved non-prescription sales of…

WORCESTER, Mass. (ABP) — New scientific research may defuse the culture war over embryonic stem-cell research, but it also may raise new ethical questions. In a study publicized Aug. 23 on the website of the journal Nature, members of a…

PLAINVIEW, Texas (ABP) — Fedha Mohamed Elyas has visited her children in Texas before and returned home to Africa with no problems. But this time, she's afraid to go home. Elyas is a resident of the Comoros Islands, off the…

MUSKOGEE, Okla. (ABP) — A federal judge in Oklahoma has upheld a Ten Commandments display outside a county courthouse, saying county officials did not advance any religious viewpoint by allowing the monument to be built two years ago. United States…

METAIRIE, La. (ABP) — In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, hundreds of churches nationwide sent work groups to the region to help gut houses, build new ones and reach people with the gospel. Most of those workers left after a…

COLLEYVILLE, Texas (ABP) — Frank Harber, pastor of First Baptist Church of Colleyville, Texas, resigned Aug. 18 amid allegations he benefited from an improper real estate deal. But his is only the latest case illustrating the fine line between ethical…

WHITLEY CITY, Ky. (ABP) — Wilma Prater has lived in McCreary County, Ky., for 20 years. She likes the peace and quiet, the mountain scenery she can see from her porch, and the friendliness of her neighbors. She said she…

  Churches transformed by Katrina help rebuild New Orleans — house by house   NEW ORLEANS (ABP) — Hurricane Katrina is changing New Orleans’ churches as surely as it changed the face of the flooded city itself — and some…

DALLAS (ABP) — Suzii Paynter has been named director of the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission — the first woman to hold the influential position. The directorship of the ethics and public-policy organization is historically one of the most high-profile…