Americans value freedom but there are differences on what it means

WASHINGTON (ABP) — A battle between two heroes of the Religious Right is shaping up in Alabama. On Nov. 10, Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor (R) asked the Alabama Court of the Judiciary to remove the state's chief justice from…

LUBBOCK, Texas (ABP) — The Baptist General Convention of Texas is a “work in progress,” according to newly elected President Ken Hall. Hall, president of Buckner Baptist Benevolences in Dallas, was elected to the post by acclamation during the BGCT…

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (ABP) — A Missouri judge has given an initial legal victory to one of the institutions locked in a messy legal spat with the Missouri Baptist Convention. Cole County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Brown ruled Nov. 10…

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (ABP) — Conservative David Horton was elected president of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina Nov. 11 in what was anticipated as a make-or-break election for moderate Baptists in the state. Moderate David Hughes, 51, pastor of…

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (ABP) — North Carolina Baptists twice affirmed a decision to oust McGill Baptist Church in Concord from the state convention for baptizing two men presumed to be gay. Messengers to the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina overwhelmingly…

MARYVILLE, Ill. (ABP) — Messengers to the Illinois Baptist State Association's annual meeting soundly rejected a last-minute attempt to make the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message its official faith statement. Instead, they adopted the recommendation of a state association's committee…

WASHINGTON (ABP) — A new study suggests that one of the main arguments for government funding of religious social-service providers may be based on false assumptions. Researchers at Indiana University-Purdue University of Indianapolis concluded a three-year study of the effectiveness…

WASHINGTON (ABP) — President Bush signed into law Nov. 5 the first federal restriction on abortion in 30 years, but barely an hour later a federal judge partially blocked its enforcement. Bush signed a bill banning a kind of abortion…

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (ABP) — In a harmonious Arkansas Baptist State Convention meeting Nov. 4-5 in Fayetteville, about 900 messengers approved a 2004 Cooperative Program budget of $19.5 million, heard a report on racial harmony and diversity, endorsed a resolution in…

ROSWELL, N.M. (ABP) — Signaling a theme that likely will surface in many of this fall's Baptist conventions, Baptists in New Mexico adopted resolutions Oct. 29 favoring government support of the traditional family, endorsing public affirmations of God, and denouncing…

ATLANTA (ABP) — A closely watched case regarding government funding for “faith-based” social-service organizations has ended in a settlement that critics of the practice are counting as a victory. The State of Georgia and the United Methodist Children's Home in…

ST. LOUIS (ABP) — The Missouri Baptist Convention broke a 154-year tradition and voted Nov. 4 to stop funding William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo., over issues of homosexuality and morality. Messengers at the annual meeting eliminated the Baptist school…