JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (ABP) — Baptist journalists and observers ranked religion in the 2008 presidential election the year's biggest story for Baptists. Faith in politics played a major role in the year's news cycle, according to an annual ranking of top…
Christian leaders call for easing travel restrictions to Cuba
NEW YORK (ABP) — Christian leaders on Dec. 18 called on President-elect Barack Obama to ease travel restrictions to Cuba they say hinder religious work. Denominational and ecumenical leaders from a variety of faith groups said restrictions imposed in 2005…
Survey says most Americans believe in multiple paths to salvation
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A majority of American Christians believe that at least some non-Christian faiths can lead to eternal life, says a new survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. Even among evangelicals, a branch of Protestant…
Southwestern Seminary cuts budget
FORT WORTH, Texas (ABP) — Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has announced plans to cut its budget by about 10 percent — a reduction between $3.5 million and $4 million — in an effort to "protect the institution from future financial…
Rick Warren to give invocation at Obama inauguration
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Rick Warren, founder of the Southern Baptist Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., will give the invocation at Barack Obama's Jan. 20 presidential inauguration. In August Warren invited both then-candidate Obama and his Republican opponent John McCain…
Rick Warren to give invocation at Obama inauguration
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Rick Warren, founder of the Southern Baptist Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., will give the invocation at Barack Obama's Jan. 20 presidential inauguration. In August Warren invited both then-candidate Obama and his Republican opponent John McCain…
Rick Warren to give invocation at Obama inauguration
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Rick Warren, founder of the Southern Baptist Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., will give the invocation at Barack Obama's Jan. 20 presidential inauguration. In August Warren invited both then-candidate Obama and his Republican opponent John McCain…
Rick Warren to give invocation at Obama inauguration
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Rick Warren, founder of the Southern Baptist Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., will give the invocation at Barack Obama's Jan. 20 presidential inauguration. In August Warren invited both then-candidate Obama and his Republican opponent John McCain…
Evangelical leaders seek broad moral agenda in Cizik replacement
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Fifty-nine evangelical leaders signed a letter requesting that whoever is chosen to replace ousted lobbyist Richard Cizik at the National Association of Evangelicals carry on Cizik's commitment to a moral agenda broader than opposition to homosexuality and…
Time ranks SBC rejection of sex-offender database as ‘under-reported’ story
NEW YORK (ABP) — Time Magazine ranked the Southern Baptist Convention's refusal to establish a database of clergy sex offenders one of the most under-reported news stories in 2008. A ranking of under-reported stories in Time's "Top 10 Everything of…
Pastor calls for ‘un-blending’ of secular, sacred Christmas traditions
LEAWOOD, Kan. (ABP) — A Baptist pastor thinks he has a solution to the dilemma about whether it's more appropriate to say "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays" in secular settings like department stores. Mike McKinney submits that tensions that flare…
Mike Huckabee says American Christians ‘persecuted’
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (ABP) — Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee says it is culturally acceptable in America to persecute Christians. In an interview with the Florida Baptist Witness, the former Arkansas governor cited foot baths provided for Muslims at the…