As I returned home from the Southern Baptist Convention, I brought with me three overriding perceptions. First, I was shocked that only 8,618 messengers gathered for the Southern Baptist Convention—and that only 331 Virginians from both the BGAV and the…
Do the math on abstinence education
Just in time for a Capitol Hill battle over abstinence education funding, a curious report was released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in April. Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., a Washington D.C. think tank, conducted the study…
Pastors challenged to link faith, society in their sermons
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP)—Prophecy is not about gazing into the future. It's about passion for a better world right now, speakers at a celebration of preaching stressed. While many think of the prophets of the Bible primarily as predictors of the…
USCIRF decries Pakistan’s abuse of blasphemy laws
WASHINGTON (BP)—Incessant persecution of Christians and other religious minorities in Pakistan is generating increased concern from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. A recent news release from the USCIRF expressed outrage over the Islamic country's abuse of its blasphemy…
The great task
There is no doubt that parenting is a big deal. It can be the most rewarding of tasks and also the most frustrating. Being a parent brings a mix of pure joy, overwhelming love, and sheer exhaustion. What's amazing is…
Weary pastors stave off stress by scheduling ‘personal Sabbaths’
DALLAS (ABP)—Consummate counselor, powerful preacher, lasting leader—these are descriptions often used to characterize a respected pastor. Avid fisherman and beach bum are not. But Bruce Prindle, pastor of First Baptist Church in Midlothian, Texas, values fishing and lying in a…
Atheists view ‘radical Christianity’ as threat
WASHINGTON (RNS)—More than half of atheists and agnostics think “radical Christianity” is just as threatening in the United States as “radical Islam,” a new study reveals. The Barna Group, a Ventura, Calif.-based research firm, found 56 percent of atheists and…
FAITH DIGEST
Most Republicans doubt Darwin. Republicans are far more likely to doubt the theory of evolution than Democrats, a new Gallup Poll revealed. Sixty-eight percent of Republicans say they doubt humans evolved from lower life forms over millions of years; only…
Render to Caesar
It may look dead, but it's really just evolving—even though its members might not like that word. And it may be developing into something its founders wouldn't recognize. That's what some experts say about the future of the Religious Right…