Arkansas governor reignites campaign debate about stepchildren versus biological children

(ABP) — The election of the hard-line German cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as pope of the Roman Catholic Church is expected to continue the conservative doctrinal and moral arc of predecessor John Paul II but may hurt chances for closer ties…

WASHINGTON (ABP) — The erosion of support for the First Amendment among high-school students sounds like “a death announcement about someone you love,” church historian Walter Shurden told attendees at a conference sponsored by the First Freedoms Project. Shurden, executive…

WASHINGTON (ABP) — Baptists who believe in church-state separation need to do a better job of defending that principle in the public arena, two members of Congress counseled at a recent conference. Speaking in Washington April 14 at a conference…

WASHINGTON (ABP) — The Senate's top-ranking Republican and conservative Christian leaders will join forces in an April 24 nationwide telecast to accuse Democrats of barring “people of faith” from becoming federal judges. The charge prompted cries of “foul” from Democrats…

TYLER, Texas (ABP) — One volunteer can make a life-or-death difference for a child, especially if that volunteer happens to be a retired physician. Though Richard Hurst of Tyler, Texas, had been volunteering alongside missions field personnel for 10 years,…

WASHINGTON (ABP) — The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether a small band of adherents of an obscure Brazilian sect living in the United States have a religious right to import hallucinogenic tea for sacramental use. The justices agreed April…

ALEXANDRIA, La. (ABP) — The new executive of the Louisiana Baptist Convention is asking the convention's newspaper to dissolve its independent board and come under the executive's authority. Under the proposal from executive director David Hankins, the Baptist Message would…

WASHINGTON (ABP) — A federal appeals court has ruled that a Virginia county can exclude a member of a minority religion from offering prayers at county board meetings — even though adherents of “Judeo-Christian” religions are allowed to lead invocations….

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (ABP) — Samford University President Thomas Corts, who has led Alabama's largest private university for 22 years, will retire in May 2006, or earlier if a presidential search committee identifies his successor before then. Corts announced his retirement…