Baptist News Global

Regrets the Averett decision

Your article in the Dec. 9 issue, “Aiming at Southwest Virginia,” reports that the Virginia Baptist Mission Board approved Averett University's proposal to create a program to provide training and theological education to ministers and laity in Southwest Virginia. Such…

Honeycutt, former Southern Seminary president, dies after accident at home

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) — Roy Honeycutt, retired president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, died Dec. 21, one day after suffering head injuries in a fall at his home in Louisville, Ky. He was 78. Honeycutt, a noted Old Testament scholar,…

Poll shows 44 percent of Americans would curtail Muslims’ civil rights

WASHINGTON (ABP) — Nearly half of all Americans would curtail the civil rights of Muslim-Americans in some way, according to a new survey. In the name of combating potential terrorism, 44 percent of respondents to a Cornell University survey said…

SBC leaders decline to join new ecumenical group

ATLANTA (ABP) — The Southern Baptist Convention will not join a new ecumenical group designed to bring Catholic, Orthodox, mainline Protestant and evangelical Christians together, according to news reports. A spokesman for the Southern Baptist Convention's North American Mission Board…

American Baptist official decries gay debate

Regional leaders of the American Baptist Churches USA have issued a pastoral letter declaring that denominational debate on homosexuality “threatens to break us apart.” In their statement, released Dec. 2, regional executive ministers outlined steps they would take to deal…

SBC leaders say no to ecumenical group

The Southern Baptist Convention has told organizers of Christian Churches Together in the USA, a fledgling ecumenical organization, that it has no interest in joining. The new organization, set to formally launch next fall, aims to bring Catholics, mainline Protestants,…

UCC flies complaint with FCC over rejection

The United Church of Christ has asked the Federal Communications Commission to deny licenses to two Miami television stations after church ads were rejected as “too controversial” by the NBC and CBS networks. The church accused the two stations-WFOR, a…

Iraqi leader says country will protect Christians

Iraq's foreign minister met with Pope John Paul II on Dec. 13 and pledged the commitment of his interim government to protect the country's Christians from terrorist attacks. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari delivered a message to the pope from…

Separationists sue over funding of missions

A church-state separationist group has filed suit to try to halt a new law calling for the distribution of taxpayer funds for the historical preservation of California mission churches. Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a Washington-based watchdog…

Familiar look? Forensics scientists reconstruct face of original Santa

What did the real Santa Claus look like? Viewers of a program broadcast Dec. 18 on British TV found out. A team of forensic scientists at Britain's Manchester University has reconstructed the face of St. Nicholas of Myra-the precursor of…

Powerful symbol: Christmas trees evolved from centuries-old traditions

By Timothy Harper The Christmas tree remains a powerful symbol for many of us. “Christmas trees probably add more to mark the period of ‘peace on earth, goodwill toward men' than any other product of the soil,” says Ann Kirk-Davis,…

For Protestants, Jesus’ mother is making more than a cameo appearance

By Kim Lawton It's Christmas-and for Protestants, that means it's time for the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus, to make her annual cameo appearance in creche sets, carols and children's bathrobed Christmas pageants. But for some Protestant theologians and…

‘Be careful of Scripture heavy in law but light on grace,’ Wesley warns

‘Show up and do something,’ ACLU leader urges

From the South Side to the South Lawn and back again

Democracy as a moral practice, not just a system