NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — The Southern Baptist Convention has secured its ties to New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, concluding years of wrangling over the convention's legal relationship with the school. Messengers to the SBC annual meeting in Nashville approved a…
Klansman guilty of manslaughter of three civil-rights activists
PHILADELPHIA, Miss. (ABP) — Forty-one years after the crime, Baptist preacher and former Ku Klux Klan member Edgar Ray Killen was found guilty of manslaughter for the slaying of three college-age civil-rights workers who were beaten and shot. Killen, now…
House rejects measure aimed at Air Force Academy
WASHINGTON (ABP) — After debate unusually acrimonious even by the standards of the House of Representatives, that body voted narrowly June 20 to scuttle a provision designed to hold the United States Air Force Academy accountable for reports of religious…
Bush to address culture-war allies at SBC meeting for 4th year
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — For the fourth year in a row, President George W. Bush will speak — by live video — to messengers of the Southern Baptist Convention when they meet next week in Nashville, Tenn. Bush will address…
Yearlong evangelistic effort will reveal health of SBC, president Welch says
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — Sixteen months from now, Southern Baptists should know if they have been able to reverse their evangelistic decline — or if there is a deeper problem that will require a more drastic remedy — said Bobby…
Terri Schiavo autopsy says she was brain damaged, blind, not abused
WASHINGTON (ABP) — The autopsy results for Terri Schiavo, released by Florida officials June 15, conclude that she was not abused prior to collapsing and lapsing into an unconscious state 15 years ago, that she was blind at the time…
New Jersey appeals-court panel rules against gay marriage
TRENTON, N.J. (ABP) — A divided New Jersey appellate court ruled June 14 against same-sex marriage, but gay-rights activists who filed the suit have promised to appeal. A three-judge panel of the New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division ruled 2-1…
Violence in Rio Grande city Forces mission trips out
NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico (ABP) — Escalating violence in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, prompted the Texas Baptist River Ministry office to issue a safety advisory for the border city and led some volunteer church groups to cancel their planned trips. At least…
News pioneer W.C. Fields to headline ABP dinner at CBF General Assembly
GRAPEVINE, Texas (ABP) — Wilmer C. Fields, a pioneer in the field of Christian journalism, will be the featured speaker at the annual Associated Baptist Press dinner at the CBF General Assembly. The dinner will be held Thursday, June 30,…
Carlton Dotson sentenced to 35 years for murder of Baylor basketball player
Editor's note: This story updates one issued June 9. WACO, Texas (ABP) — Former basketball player Carlton Dotson was sentenced to 35 years in prison June 15 for killing his former Baylor University basketball teammate Patrick Dennehy — despite his…
Senate apologizes for failure to pass anti-lynching law
WASHINGTON (ABP) — The United States Senate has offered a belated apology for something it repeatedly failed to do: Stop a century of lynchings that killed thousands of African-Americans and other minorities. During the 19th and 20th centuries, white mobs…
Creator of Living Bible, Ken Taylor, dies at 88
WHEATON, Ill. (ABP) — Kenneth Taylor, whose Living Bible made Scripture understandable for millions of people, died June 10 at the age of 88 at his home in Wheaton, Ill. Taylor based his Living Bible paraphrase, first published in 1971,…