Court strikes down Louisiana Ten Commandments law

A Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments be posted in every public classroom is “unconstitutional on its face” and may not go into effect Jan. 1 as state officials hoped, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge John W....

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Wanda Allen dies in Georgia; wife of former SBC president

BIG CANOE, Ga. (ABP) — Wanda Ruth Massey Allen, 74, wife of former Southern Baptist Convention president Jimmy Allen, died at her home in Big Canoe, Ga., Nov. 13 after a long illness. Born in Duncan, Okla., she graduated from…

CBF’s Stan Parks accepts position with Texas Baptists’ mission network

LUBBOCK, Texas (ABP) — Stan Parks, a mission worker in Southeast Asia for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, was named associate at WorldconneX, a new missions agency created by the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Beginning in January, Parks will serve…

Kentucky Baptist messengers elect layman as president

LEXINGTON, Ky. (ABP) — Federal judge Eugene Siler was elected president of the Kentucky Baptist Convention Nov. 11. He is only the fourth layman elected to that post in the past 50 years. Siler, who serves on the 6th U.S….

Tennessee Baptists turn back changes proposed by conservatives

JACKSON, Tenn. (ABP) – Several attempts to place more conservatives in leadership of the Tennessee Baptist Convention and its institutions failed during the convention's annual meeting Nov. 11-12. The convention's 1,905 messengers also adopted resolutions supporting the proposed Federal Marriage…

Conservatives win again in N.C. as moderates ponder future role (updated)

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (ABP) — Conservative candidates swept all three key offices of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina Nov. 11-12 in what was anticipated as a make-or-break election for moderate Baptists in the state. David Horton, 43, pastor of…

Federal court throws out religious freedom law

WASHINGTON (ABP) — A federal appeals court has struck down part of a law that is the latest in a series of federal attempts to protect certain aspects of religious freedom. On Nov. 7, a three-judge panel of the Cincinnati-based…

Bill Pryor asks Alabama court to oust Roy Moore from office

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…

New BGCT President Ken Hall says convention a ‘work in progress’

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…

Missouri Baptist University wins round in legal battle

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…