Americans value freedom but there are differences on what it means

INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — President Bush promised messengers at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting he would “defend the sanctity of marriage against activist courts.” Bush's June 15 live address via satellite marked the third straight year he has spoken to…

INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — Florida pastor Bobby Welch won the first contested Southern Baptist Convention presidential election in a decade June 15, then directed his characteristic zeal for evangelism toward reversing the SBC's numerical decline. Welch, pastor of First Baptist Church…

INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — Messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting voted by a 2-1 margin to “respectfully request” that trustees of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary amend the school's charter, naming the Southern Baptist Convention as the seminary's “sole…

— EDITOR'S NOTE: This story updates and corrects the June 16 ABP story “Southern Baptists vote down anti-public-school resolution.” INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — Southern Baptists adopted resolutions June 16 lamenting America's “cultural drift … toward secularization” and urging Christians to engage…

WACO, Texas, (ABP) — After a year of controversy at the world's largest Baptist university, John Baugh, one of Baylor University's biggest benefactors, wrote a letter June 3 to the Baylor Board of Regents criticizing President Robert Sloan's leadership and…

INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — Southern Baptists adopted resolutions June 16 lamenting America's “cultural drift…toward secularization” and urging Christians to vote according to “biblical values,” but they stopped short of calling for a full-scale withdrawal from public schools. The 8,500 messengers attending…

INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — During the heart of the Southern Baptist controversy, conservatives considered a proposal to split the six Southern Baptist Convention seminaries with moderates, according to one prominent SBC leader. Paige Patterson, an architect of what supporters call the…

WASHINGTON (ABP) — By a large majority, the Senate voted June 15 to extend federal hate-crimes protections to sexual minorities. Senators voted 65-33 to add crimes based on a victim's real or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or disability to…

SAN ANTONIO (ABP) — “Just trust” is a simple message, but it's one that Emily Burkhead lives by daily. Burkhead, an 18-year-old member of First Baptist Church in Cleveland, Texas, won the top prize in the speaker part of the…

INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — Southern Baptist Convention messengers voted overwhelmingly June 15 to end the denomination's 99-year relationship with the Baptist World Alliance. The action during the SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis follows several years of tension between the two organizations….

INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — In an eventful first day of their annual meeting, Southern Baptists heard a rousing speech from President George W. Bush, broke ties with the Baptist World Alliance, and elected a new convention president June 15. During the…

INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — Paige Patterson's assessment of the American Baptist Churches USA's stand on homosexuality is “completely outrageous,” declared ABC General Secretary Roy Medley. Patterson, a member of the Southern Baptist Convention's Baptist World Alliance study committee, cited BWA's affiliation…