WASHINGTON (ABP) — Religious leaders on both sides of the abortion debate called on Congress to include free birth control as a component in health-care reform. Responding to an Institute of Medicine panel considering whether contraception should be classified in…
Oates institute director resigns
Vicki Hollon LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) — The Wayne E. Oates Institute has announced a $40,000 challenge gift from anonymous donors to honor leadership of Vicki Hollon, the group's executive director since 1996 who steps down at the end of November….
‘Fireproof’ actor Kirk Cameron shares testimony at Baptist college
HANNIBAL, Mo, (ABP) — Actor Kirk Cameron drew amens from 1,100 listeners as he shared his salvation experience, lessons he learned from a movie about marriage and information about his current project. Kirk Cameron (Hannibal-LaGrange University/Beth Sowers photo) Cameron, best…
Harry Potter presents contemporary gospel narrative, professor says
AUSTIN, Texas (ABP) — A bespectacled teenaged wizard with a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead might not look like an image of Christ to most people, but evangelical pop-culture observer Greg Garrett sees similarities he says are definite. “Harry Potter…
Concert benefits hunger ministry
FORT WORTH, Texas (ABP) — A free concert at a Texas Baptist church turned into a blessing for the city's hungry and homeless. When members of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra approached Broadway Baptist Church about staging a concert as…
Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood unimpressed by new NIV
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) — A group that criticized the New International Version Bible translation for introducing a gender-inclusive edition in 2005 says it isn't satisfied by revisions in the latest edition recently available online. The Council for Biblical Manhood and…
Historian Morgan Patterson dies
Editor's note: This story was edited after posting. NOVATO, Calif. (ABP) — Morgan Patterson, a historian who taught at four Southern Baptist seminaries and was president of a Baptist college, died Nov. 19 at age 85 at his home in…
Hunger report praises federal program
WASHINGTON (ABP) — In the latest edition of its annual report on global food insecurity, a Christian anti-hunger group praised efforts by President Obama’s administration to battle world hunger but warned that cutting food aid due to budget concerns would be short-sighted….
N.C. mega-church pastor retiring
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (ABP) — The senior pastor of North Carolina's largest Southern Baptist church announced Nov. 21 he is retiring after 26 years. Joe Brown Joe Brown, 62, told members of Hickory Grove Baptist Church by video that he is…