ALPHARETTA, GA. (ABP) — New guidelines for starting Southern Baptist churches ask members of new congregations to affirm biblical inerrancy and male-only deacons. The guidelines, adopted Oct. 6 by trustees of the North American Mission Board, do not apply to…
Supreme Court agrees to hear appeals in Ten Commandments cases
WASHINGTON (ABP) — The Supreme Court has agreed to wade into one of the day's most explosive church-state issues: Whether displays of the Ten Commandments on public buildings can ever be constitutional. In an announcement that took some court watchers…
Water recedes in North Carolina, but floods’ effects continue
CLYDE, N.C. (ABP) — A map on a wall at First Baptist Church said it all. Thin lines representing the Pigeon River were marked on either side with sprawling black areas — the parts of the town where a fierce…
Supreme Court will hear case on inmates’ religious freedom
WASHINGTON (ABP) — The Supreme Court will consider for the first time the constitutionality of a law intended to protect the religious freedom of prison inmates. The justices agreed Oct. 12 to hear arguments in Cutter vs. Wilkinson, which involves…
Anti-schools resolution expected to surface in 10 state conventions
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (ABP) — Although a resolution urging Christians to pull their children from public schools failed to gain approval of the Southern Baptist Convention last summer, the issue is expected to come to a vote in as many as…
Religious-Right pioneer Ed McAteer dead at 78
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A Southern Baptist layman credited with being the “godfather” of the modern Religious Right is dead at age 78. Ed McAteer died after a long battle with myeloma, a form of cancer, on the morning of Oct….
Louisiana judge overturns recent gay marriage ban
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Just three weeks after Louisiana voters overwhelmingly approved a provision banning gay marriage, a state judge has negated it, saying the amendment itself is written in a way that violates the state's constitution. Judge William Morvant of…
Vice presidential candidates show little difference on gay marriage
WASHINGTON (ABP) — To hear the vice presidential candidates talk, you'd think there was little difference between President Bush and Sen. John Kerry on the issue of same-sex marriage. Both Vice President Dick Cheney and his Democratic opponent, North Carolina…
Louisiana College hires conservative seminary scholar as 8th president
PINEVILLE, La. (ABP) — Trustees of Louisiana College announced Sept. 30 that conservative seminary scholar Malcolm Yarnell will be the embattled school's eighth president. Yarnell, assistant dean of theological studies and associate professor of systemic theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological…
Global campaign wants to mobilize Christians to combat poverty
NEW YORK (ABP) — Christian leaders from around the world will launch a major anti-poverty initiative Oct. 15 in New York City with an ambitious goal — to cut worldwide poverty in half by 2015. The campaign — named the…
Negative stereotypes of Muslims common among Americans, new survey reveals
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A new survey commissioned by an Islamic civil-rights group offers both good news and bad for American Muslims. The Council on American-Islamic Relations released the nationwide poll of 1,000 respondents Oct. 4. It showed, among other things,…
Supreme Court turns away Roy Moore one final time
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Roy Moore's long legal saga over the Ten Commandments, which began with a bang, has ended in a whimper. The U.S. Supreme Court, beginning its 2004-2005 term Oct. 4, declined without comment to hear Moore's appeal of…