MEMPHIS, Tenn. (ABP)—A new kind of “school choice” agenda is gaining ground as more and more young adults’—including Christians concerned about social justice—choose teaching in public schools over more lucrative and less challenging careers. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan…
Colorado tragedy affects Texas Baptist family
AURORA, Colo. (ABP)—The impact of a shooting rampage at a Colorado movie theater was felt as far away as Texas, where a Baptist family mourned the loss of a brother and son. Texas native Gordon Cowden, 51, the oldest of…
Organization says SBC is ‘bullying’ Air Force chaplain to explain presence
(ABP)—A chaplaincy organization supportive of last year’s repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that banned gays from serving openly in the military accused the Southern Baptist Convention of bullying and intimidation for asking an Air Force chaplain to…
BTSR goes ‘boothless’ at CBF General Assembly
RICHMOND, Va—Alumni of Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond searched in vain this year for a booth in the exhibit hall at last week’s Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly in Fort Worth, Texas, but their alma mater was far from invisible….
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship enters year of transition
FORTH WORTH, Texas—The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship looks forward to an “in-between year” characterized by implementation of a new identity statement and a search for a successor to retiring CBF Executive Coordinator Daniel Vestal, the group’s incoming moderator said June. 22….
CBF enters year of transition
FORTH WORTH, Texas—The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship looks forward to an “in-between year” characterized by implementation of a new identity statement and a search for a successor to retiring CBF Executive Coordinator Daniel Vestal, the group’s incoming moderator said June. 22….
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship sessions to be webcast
FORT WORTH, Texas—Five main sessions of the upcoming June 20-23 Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly in Fort Worth, Texas, will be broadcast live online. Sessions can be viewed live or accessed later from archives at www.thefellowship.info/fortworth. The first webcast features…
Southern Baptist Convention elects first black president
NEW ORLEANS—One hundred sixty-seven years after forming over the right to appoint slaveholders as missionaries and 17 years after apologizing for the denomination’s racist past, the Southern Baptist Convention elected its first African-American president June 19. Messengers to the June…
Baptists split on NC gay marriage ban
RALEIGH, N.C.—Some religious leaders hailed North Carolina’s May 8 passage of a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman as a win for family values, while others vowed to continue the fight for what they call…
SBC leader issues apologies for comments
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP)—After initially defending comments accusing black leaders of politicizing the death of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, the head of Southern Baptists’ Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission issued back-to-back apologies regarding statements he made on his radio program. Richard…
Covenant is the best model for Christians grappling changing sexual morals, says David Gushee
DECATUR, Ga. (ABP)—The co-convener of a conference on sexuality and covenant said April 20 that long-term committed relationships are the best model for Christians struggling to make sense of changing morals about sex. “I believe that covenant is a, if…
Christians no longer have consensus on sexual ethics, says keynote speaker at sexuality conference
ATLANTA (ABP)—Christians no longer share a consensus that sex outside of marriage is always wrong and must find new ways to deal with that reality besides splitting into smaller and smaller groups over issues like homosexuality and contraception, a keynote…