WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (ABP) — A federal judge is recommending that a North Carolina county be ordered to stop allowing sectarian prayers at meetings of its board of commissioners. Stephen Corts Trevor Sharpe, a magistrate judge for the U.S. Court for…
Texas Baptists provide solace in wake of Fort Hood massacre
FORT HOOD, Texas (ABP) — In the wake of the Fort Hood tragedy, Texas Baptists are helping people find comfort in Christ. Four chaplains endorsed by Texas Baptists are ministering directly to victims of the Nov. 5 shooting at the…
Don’t blame Islam for Fort Hood killings, Baptist leader says
NORMAN, Okla. (ABP) — At least one Baptist leader cautioned against attempts to blame the Nov. 5 Fort Hood massacre on the accused assailant's Islamic faith. Bruce Prescott Bruce Prescott, executive director of Mainstream Oklahoma Baptists, said Nov. 8 that…
Additional charges filed against Baptist camp director
HERTFORD, N.C. (ABP) — A North Carolina Baptist camp director arrested in July and charged with two counts of sex offenses against a child now faces additional felony charges. Steve Carter A grand jury in Perquimans County, N.C., handed down…
Religious freedom requires Baptists to hold in tension certain principles
DALLAS (ABP) — Baptists must hold in tension three sets of paradoxical ideas if they are to remain faithful to their heritage and champion freedom, Brent Walker told participants at the T.B. Maston Christian Ethics Award Dinner Oct. 30 in…
Mural enriches children’s ministry
SAN ANTONIO (ABP) — On a hot South Texas summer morning, parents and children stream into the Children’s Center at San Antonio’s Trinity Baptist Church for Sunday School. Visitors are greeted warmly, and children are directed to their classrooms: downstairs…
Mural enriches children’s ministry, helps heal wounds for Texas church
(Eric Gay/courtesy of Trinity Baptist Church) SAN ANTONIO (ABP) — On a hot South Texas summer morning, parents and children stream into the Children’s Center at San Antonio’s Trinity Baptist Church for Sunday school. Visitors are greeted warmly, and children…
ABP offers new, revamped e-mail products and social-networking feeds
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (ABP) — Associated Baptist Press, the nation’s first and only independent news service created by and for Baptists, is set to offer content through several new formats, its leaders announced Nov. 5. The organization — based in Jacksonville,…
Russian Baptists alarmed by proposed changes to religion law
MOSCOW (ABP) — Russian Baptist leaders have raised concerns about proposed revisions to the nation's religion law — changes they contend would greatly curtail religious freedom in Russia. Yuri Sipko Yuri Sipko, president of the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists…
Analysis: Off-year elections produce mixed bag for religious conservatives
WASHINGTON (ABP) — While results of the Nov. 3 off-year state elections suggest that reports of the Religious Right’s demise are greatly exaggerated, the movement’s influence on election outcomes throughout the country was rather mixed. Religious Right-backed candidates won Virginia’s…
BMS World Mission writes prime minister about global warming
DIDCOT, England (ABP) — The urgent need for action on global climate change has caused a 217-year-old British Baptist missionary-sending organization to write what its leaders believe to be the group's first-ever open letter to a prime minister. BMS World…
Merritt, Gushee: On creation care, evangelicals must move toward ‘we’
MACON, Ga. (ABP) — American Christians must move beyond a theology of “me” to a theology of “we” in order to play a meaningful role in creation care, according to speakers at a two-day conference recently held Oct. 29-31 on…