Historical drama Pressure clears the air on speaking truth to power

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (ABP) — Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson set off another wave of blogger reaction Nov. 10 after warning residents of Dover, Pa., that disaster may strike them because they “voted God out of their city.” Robertson made his…

WOODBRIDGE, Va. (ABP) — Virginia Baptists approved a reduced budget for 2006 during a peaceful annual meeting Nov. 10-11 which focused on worship and a new mission partnership. About 850 messengers registered for the Baptist General Association of Virginia's 182nd…

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (ABP) — Messengers to the Arkansas Baptist State Convention Nov. 7-9 passed seven resolutions, including ones opposing casino and lottery gambling, the sale of beer on college campuses, and homosexual activism. The 939 messengers also called for…

LACOMBE, La. (ABP) — The Rotary Foundation has awarded a $50,000 grant to aid in the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Louisiana's hurricane relief efforts in Lacombe, a small Creole community about 25 miles north of New Orleans. Earmarked to restore…

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. (ABP) – Belmont University has decided not to remain affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention, which helped found the school in 1952. School officials informed convention leaders that Belmont intends to elect its own trustees — a move…

WASHINGTON (ABP) — With a handful of exceptions, candidates and causes backed by religious conservatives went down to defeat in unusually prominent off-year elections Nov. 8. Other than Texas voters' passage of a state constitutional amendment banning marriage and similar…

DOVER, Pa. (ABP) — The democratic process yielded one win and one loss Nov. 8 for advocates of a controversial theory about the origins of earthly life. A bitterly divided Kansas Board of Education voted 6-4 to write new science…

DALLAS (ABP) — Texas voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment Nov. 8 defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. By a two-to-one margin, voters approved Proposition 2, which bolstered the state's ban on same-sex marriage by…

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (ABP) — Mart Gray, who has served for eight years as the coordinator of the Alabama Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, has resigned to become the full-time pastor of a new church. Gray has served part-time as pastor of Covenant…

MACON, Ga. (ABP) — Trustees of Mercer University are poised to elect Bill Underwood, interim president of Baylor University, as president of the Baptist school in Macon, Ga. Underwood, 49, met with some faculty and board members during a visit…

MEGIDDO, Israel (ABP) — The ruins of an ancient Christian church, found within the walls of an Israeli prison, may prove to be one of the earliest churches ever discovered and could change the historical understanding of the Christian church…

WACO, Texas (ABP) — John Lilley has kept his distance from the ideological battle that has divided Baylor University's constituents into two camps. That distance — 2004 miles to be exact — and Lilley's reputation as a reconciler may be…