WASHINGTON (ABP) — South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds (R) signed the nation's most sweeping abortion ban into law March 6, setting up a battle that could wind up in the Supreme Court. Rounds gave his assent to the so-called “Women's…
After 30-year tenure, Robertson loses NRB board membership
DALLAS (ABP) — After 30 years of serving on the National Religious Broadcasters board of directors, Pat Robertson has lost his bid for re-election. The loss came just days after Robertson canceled his planned keynote address at the closing ceremony…
Court disallows law-school ban on campus military recruiters
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A unanimous Supreme Court said March 6 that law schools, no matter how distasteful they find the military's anti-gay policies, cannot claim their First Amendment rights are being violated by a law that requires them to allow…
Chairman to ask IMB committee to revisit, clarify controversial issues
RICHMOND, Va. (ABP) — The chairman of the International Mission Board is asking the board's personnel committee to take another look at two controversial measures the board passed in November. Chair Tom Hatley, pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Rogers,…
New video of kidnapped Christians buoys hopes for activists’ fate
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A new video of Christian peace activists taken hostage in Iraq last year is renewing hope among their colleagues and loved ones. But it also is raising questions about the fate of the sole American abducted, who…
Christian punk-rockers find acceptance on ‘straight edge’
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (ABP) — Awhile back, 16-year-old Seth Landerfelt went to court for being caught out past the 11 p.m. curfew in Moody, Ala. “They told me to take out my piercings and cut my hair,” he recalled with a…
Catholic Democrats outline beliefs on church, state, abortion rights
WASHINGTON (ABP) — In an apparent attempt to address a controversy that has swirled since the 2004 general election, a group of Catholic Democrats in the House of Representatives issued a document Feb. 28 explaining how they reconcile their faith…
Terrorist executed in Yemen for killing Baptist missionaries
DALLAS (ABP) – A man convicted of murdering three Southern Baptist missionaries in a Yemeni hospital in 2002 died by firing squad Feb. 27, Reuters reported. Abed Abdel Razzak Kamel's execution happened in the southern Ibb province, the same region…
Supreme Court says racketeering law can’t be used against abortion protests
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A unanimous Supreme Court declared Feb. 28 that a federal law originally aimed at mobsters can't be used to shut down abortion-clinic protests. The high court already ruled in 2003 that one federal anti-racketeering law cannot be…
Gaddy warns Mainstream Baptists to be vigilant on religious liberty
RICHMOND, Va. (ABP) — Speaking Feb. 24 in the birthplace of the First Amendment's religion clauses, a Baptist minister who is a professional opponent of the Religious Right warned Baptists to be equally vigilant. Welton Gaddy, president of the Washington-based…
NAMB panel to study Index charges; agency won’t release media audit
ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) – Trustees of the North American Mission Board are asking a task force to see if there is any truth to allegations — first reported in the Christian Index — that NAMB's evangelism and church-planting efforts are…
Churches sign promise to cultivate more clergy through ‘culture of call’
DURHAM, N.C., (ABP) – In a demonstration of their commitment to develop young clergy, roughly 40 churches across the East Coast and Southwest have signed a covenant to coordinate their efforts and hopefully avert a clergy shortage. As founding members…