Court strikes down Louisiana Ten Commandments law

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) — The average salary and housing for full-time Baptist pastors is $46,505, according to a national compensation study. That is a jump of 6.7 percent from a similar study conducted two years ago. The average total pay…

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., (ABP) — “We are learning life lessons on patience and diligence and the power of perseverance. A whole new universe of music and possibility has been opened up before us.” Elizabeth Haysom's learning experience is coming is an…

CINCINNATI (ABP) — American Heritage Girls, a relatively new Christian scouting program, has seen enrollment increase dramatically after recent media attention portraying the Girl Scouts of the USA as less committed to the Christian tradition. American Heritage Girls was started…

WASHINGTON (ABP) — The Senate's Republican leadership has scheduled a mid-July vote on a proposed amendment to ban gay marriage nationwide, despite objections by Democratic lawmakers. A group of senators announced June 18 that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.)…

INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — Southern Baptists broke ties with their global brethren in the Baptist World Alliance, marshaled support for a familiar list of social issues, and voted to keep the Southern Baptist Convention name, despite suggestions it has become a…

— EDITOR'S NOTE: This updates a story issued June 2. WACO, Texas, (ABP) — A Truett Theological Seminary student who envisioned serving as a missions volunteer in India this summer to aid other physically disabled people has seen her dream…

INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — Southern Baptists will remain Southern Baptists. After a lively debate during the annual Southern Baptist Convention meeting, messengers voted 55 percent to 45 percent (1,731 to 1,391) against forming a committee to study changing the convention's name….

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…