By Bob Allen A progressive evangelical group has launched an online petition urging the U.S. Justice Department to investigate a July 4 fire at a Missouri mosque as a potential hate crime. Sojourners, a Washington-based organization dedicated to social justice…
Police defend killing of Baptist pastor
By Bob Allen Three Georgia law enforcement officials have appealed a judge’s ruling that they must stand trial to defend themselves against misconduct alleged in a lawsuit stemming from the fatal shooting of a Southern Baptist minister in a botched…
Trial for alleged peeping preacher delayed
By Bob Allen A criminal trial scheduled June 25 for a former traveling Southern Baptist evangelist and popular youth speaker charged with video voyeurism has been postponed until July 30, according to a court document obtained recently by Associated Baptist…
Florida Baptists challenge abuse ruling
By Bob Allen The Florida Baptist Convention is contesting a May 17 jury verdict that found the Southern Baptist Convention affiliate liable for sexual abuse committed by a former church planter. The Florida Baptist Witness reported June 12 that the…
Texas arrest rocks Alabama church
By Bob Allen An Alabama Baptist church fired its new pastor after his recent arrest on sexual abuse charges in Texas, but it isn’t the pastor’s first time in jail. Mark Allen Green, 41, in jail under a $500,000 bond…
Border violence keeps mission teams home
By Jeff Brumley Steadily declining mission trips to Mexico due to drug violence has left many Mexicans feeling abandoned just when their anxiety levels are peaking, missions experts in Texas say. “It’s unprecedented,” said E. Daniel Rangel, director of River Ministry…
Trial nears for accused peeping evangelist
By Bob Allen A former traveling Southern Baptist evangelist and popular youth speaker under investigation in three states for video voyeurism has so far escaped prison in exchange for guilty pleas in two cases but now faces a June 25…
State convention held liable for abuse
By Bob Allen A jury found May 17 that the Florida Baptist Convention is liable for failing to do an adequate background check before recruiting and training a former church planter now in prison for molesting a 13-year-old boy. According…
Slavery continues in U.S. in 21st century
By Marv Knox Although the 13th Amendment abolished slavery in 1865, predators still buy and sell other human beings across America, a social work professor and a police detective told a gathering of Texas Baptists. Kim Kotrla, assistant professor in…
Show death penalty the door
By Jimmy Carter For many reasons, it is time for Georgia and other states to abolish the death penalty. A recent poll showed that 61 percent of Americans would choose a punishment other than the death penalty for murder. Also,…
Race & Faith
By Ken Camp A neighborhood watchman in Florida shoots and kills a hoodie-wearing African-American teenager. Two white suspects in Tulsa, Okla., confess to the Easter weekend shooting of five people in a predominantly black neighborhood. Elizabeth Eckford, one of the…
Stand Your Ground sponsor sees no contradiction with his Baptist faith
By Jeff Brumley The state legislator and Southern Baptist layman who championed the Stand Your Ground law made infamous in the Trayvon Martin case was relieved when the killer was charged with second-degree murder. “I was redeemed by it because…