NEW YORK (ABP) — Shortly before delegates to their party's convention approved a platform that called for amending the Constitution to ban same-sex marriage, the Log Cabin Republicans denounced what the group's director called a hijacking of the party by…
Christian leaders denounce Falwell, Robertson in New York Times ad
NEW YORK (ABP) — Declaring that “God is not a Republican. Or a Democrat,” a broad group of evangelical, mainline and Catholic Christian leaders has issued a high-profile response to recent comments by Religious Right leaders appearing to endorse President…
Longtime Mars Hill president dies following bout with cancer
MORGANTON, N.C. (ABP) — Fred Blake Bentley, president emeritus of Mars Hill College, died August 26 at his home on Lake James, near Morganton. Bentley, 68, had fought colon cancer since it was diagnosed in January 2002. When Bentley became…
SemiNEXT reaches out to strengthen church starters
HOUSTON (ABP) — Church planters worldwide will no longer have to leave their places of service temporarily to receive specialized theological training thanks to SemiNEXT, an online educational program being developed by Houston-area Baptist leaders. This fall organizers are unveiling…
Church re-start in Greenville spearheads future work with rural poor
GREENVILLE, Miss. (ABP) — Leaders in Mississippi are using the rebirth of a church in Greenville to spearhead long-term missions initiatives in the Mississippi Delta and establish a starting point for work with the rural poor. Located in Greenville, Harvest…
Cheney differs with Bush on marriage amendment
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Vice President Dick Cheney surprised many of his and President Bush's most conservative supporters by publicly differing with the president on the issue of same-sex marriage Aug. 24. The next day, Republican Party officials ratified platform language…
Second federal judge rules against ‘partial-birth’ abortion ban
NEW YORK (ABP) — A second federal judge has ruled against the government's ban on so-called “partial birth” abortions, saying the federal law passed by Congress last year is unconstitutional. The Aug. 26 ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard Casey…
More Americans living in poverty, without insurance, census stats say
WASHINGTON (ABP) — The number of Americans living in poverty rose 3.4 percent last year, to 35.8 million people, while the number without health insurance climbed to 45.0 million, an increase of 1.4 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau….
Carson-Newman College mourns loss of student murdered in Senegal
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. (ABP) — An international student at Carson-Newman College died Aug. 23 from injuries she received in an attack on a street in Senegal. Du-Jae (D.J.) Lee was a Carson-Newman student for only a year, but she made…