ATLANTA (ABP) — Nearly two decades ago, Sister Dianna Ortiz says, Guatemalan security forces abducted her and took her to a clandestine prison where she was brutally gang-raped; burned more than 100 times with cigarettes; forced to cut another woman…
Human Rights & Wrongs: Why the religious silence on torture?
ATLANTA (ABP) — Most evangelical American Christians remained silent about torture at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo for some of the same reasons European Christians 70 years ago largely failed to resist the Holocaust, ethicist David Gushee told a national summit…
Human Right & Wrongs: Christians should defend rights, ethicist says
ATLANTA (ABP) — Concern about human rights means biblically grounded compassion for oppressed people — not a selfish desire to protect one’s own property or prestige, Baptist ethicist Glen Stassen told a recent meeting of religious leaders concerned about torture….
Palin terms sexuality ‘choice,’ sidesteps abortion in interview
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin described homosexuality as “a choice” while sidestepping policy questions about it and several other divisive social issues in a television interview aired Sept. 30. But the Alaska governor told Katie Couric of…
American Baptist history archives reunited at Mercer University
ATLANTA (ABP) — Scholars and history buffs who want to learn more about Baptist history now can do so in one place. The American Baptist Historical Society dedicated the Samuel Colgate Historical Library and Archives on Mercer University’s Atlanta campus…
Gay-rights ‘Equality Ride’ targets Baptist colleges
AUSTIN, Texas (ABP) — A group that promotes equal rights for gays in religious orgnaizations appears to be targeting Baptist colleges and universities in its third annual tour of faith-based educational institutions. Nine of the 15 stops scheduled on Soulforce…
Veteran journalist Bob Allen tapped as ABP senior writer
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — Veteran Baptist journalist Bob Allen will return to Associated Baptist Press Oct. 1 to fill a newly created senior writer position. It will be Allen’s second stint with the independent news agency, which he had once…
Landrum Leavell, longtime seminary president, dies
WICHITA FALLS, Texas (ABP) — Landrum Leavell, who led New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary for nearly three decades, died after an extended illness Sept. 26. He was 81. Leavell was elected the seminary’s president in January 1975, and helmed the…
Cecil Sherman, in hospital, gets ABP freedom award
HOUSTON (ABP) — Associated Baptist Press has paid homage to moderate Baptist pioneer Cecil Sherman even as the veteran of Baptist internal fighting faces a different sort of battle. ABP board member Marv Knox presented Sherman with the news agency’s…
Wyatts’ ministry to internationals broadens with move to Ottawa
ATLANTA (ABP) — A peaceful night’s sleep for a refugee whose run from violence and danger has ended, the sound of fellowship as a Christian connects with a lonely international student and the joy of a congregation that rediscovers its…
Bilingual resources engage Korean preschoolers, children in missions
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (ABP) — Korean preschoolers and children now will learn about Baptist mission efforts around the world thanks to an agreement between national Woman’s Missionary Union and its Texas affiliate. Leaders of the two WMU organizations signed a three-year…
Unique international tour inspires students to pursue U.N. goals
Students on a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship-sponsored tour of projects associated with the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals work alongside local villagers to drill a well that will provide clean water for a village in Ethiopia. (Photo courtesy CBF)ATLANTA (ABP) —…