Why coercive religious politics undermine Christianity and democracy

DALLAS (ABP) — The Baptist General Convention of Texas will end its exclusive marketing agreement with the Southern Baptist Convention's publishing house, an agreement that for years has given SBC materials a priority position among the state's 5,600 churches. The…

KUMASI, Ghana (ABP) — The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has signed a partnership agreement to do ministry with the All Africa Baptist Fellowship, an umbrella organization of Baptists in Sub-Saharan Africa. The three-year, renewable agreement will deploy CBF resources and volunteers…

DALLAS (ABP) — Children can begin to understand God if parents and churches will help them, according to ministry leaders. Children and preschoolers struggle to comprehend many abstract aspects of God — God's ability to know all, do all and…

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) — When Esther and Yaacov Horesh describe their faith in Christ, it's a rich blend of their strong Jewish roots and the influence of Baptist missionaries to Israel. “Jesus was Jewish and the first believers were Jewish,”…

CORRECTION: In the Feb. 24 ABP story, “BWA membership committee shares blame for SBC pull-out, says one member,” the seventh graph, reads: “That's the first I've heard of it,” said [Denton] Lotz to the charge that the membership committee's recommendation…

WASHINGTON (ABP) — Just hours after a Senate hearing on an amendment to outlaw gay marriage nationwide, thousands of same-sex couples and other gay-rights supporters rallied in downtown Washington in response. The Senate Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on the Constitution held…

FORT WORTH, Texas (ABP) — If military and prison chaplains serve in “pastoral roles,” then so do chaplains in hospitals, hospices and nursing homes. So say a number of medical chaplains and the professional organizations that oversee their work. There…

WACO, Texas (ABP) — A Baylor University student newspaper editorial supporting gay marriage has been condemned by university president Robert Sloan and ruled a violation of school policy by the university's Student Publications Board. An editorial in the Feb. 27…

WASHINGTON (ABP) — Oregon's most populous county began issuing marriage licenses to gay couples March 3, marking the latest incident of local officials following the lead of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom in allowing the practice. Two gay men and…

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (ABP) — A Southern Baptist Convention official has denied exhibition space to the Baptist World Alliance at this June's SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis — even though the convention has not yet approved a recommendation to separate…

NASHVILLE (ABP) — Southern Baptist Convention leaders are to blame for sparking “riots in countries around the world with finger-pointing pronouncements and inflammatory rhetoric about Islam and its founder,” said a moderate Baptist leader. Bruce Prescott, executive director of Mainstream…

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (ABP) — Attorneys for Alabama's former chief justice have asked for his reinstatement by claiming Roy Moore did not commit an ethical violation when he defied a federal court's order last year. Moore's attorneys said he was bound…