The chair-elect of the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists joined 74 other faith leaders and religious and civil-rights organizations in a legal brief filed April 24 supporting a former transgender funeral home employee in Michigan who claimed she was…
Mississippi religious liberty law has day in court
An attorney defending Mississippi’s controversial law allowing state employees to refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and various businesses to deny services to LGBT individuals claimed in federal court April 3 that individuals challenging the statute should not…
Orphan care takes center stage in LGBT/religious liberty debate
Adoption and foster care are taking center stage in the latest conflict between LGBT equality and religious liberty. In the Texas legislature, State Rep. James Frank (R-Wichita Falls) is proposing an amendment to the state’s Human Resources Code to protect…
Religious freedom clashes coming to a Sunday school class near you
A new small-group study curriculum produced by the Southern Baptist Convention portrays religious liberty as under siege in the United States of America. A joint project of the SBC Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and LifeWay Christian Resources, the six-week…
There is nothing too good for the poor
A wealthy woman once gave Dorothy Day a diamond ring as a gift to help support the work of the Catholic Worker. According to some other workers, she slipped it into her pocket for a little while. A short time…
Three-in-10 schools on ‘Shame List’ identify as Southern Baptist
Campus Pride, an advocacy organization for LGBT students at colleges and universities, identified 102 campuses said to openly discriminate in the group’s 2016 “Shame List” released Aug. 29. Last year’s inaugural Shame List identified 57 campuses that had applied for…
Southern Baptist-led group opposes California anti-discrimination bill
The Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission released a letter Aug. 10 opposing legislation proposed in California to close a loophole that allows religious universities and colleges to discriminate against students and staff based on their sexual orientation…
Judge strikes down Mississippi religious freedom law
A federal judge has struck down a controversial Mississippi bill allowing citizens with “sincerely held religious beliefs” to deny services to gays, lesbian and transgender persons. U.S. District Judge Carlton W. Reeves issued a 60-page opinion June 30 blocking enforcement…
Mississippi pastors support law widely-described as anti-gay
More than 50 Southern Baptist ministers in Mississippi recently issued an open letter supporting a new law which purports to protect religious liberty but is widely-described as the country’s most aggressive anti-LGBT legislation. Baptist pastors including current and past presidents of the…