By Bob Allen After endorsing a failed “personhood” amendment to the state constitution last fall, Mississippi Baptist leaders are now backing legislation that observers say could shut down the state’s only abortion clinic. Passed by Mississippi’s House of Representatives March…
Former ‘Seeds’ publisher, Carter Center staffer joins Baptist hospital
By Bob Allen Former Carter Center adviser and one-time magazine publisher Gary Gunderson has been named vice president for faith and health ministries at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. Gary Gunderson Gunderson comes from a similar post at Methodist LeBonheur…
Head of Baptist medical/dental group stepping down
By Bob Allen Dr. Fred Loper is stepping down May 31 as executive director of the Baptist Medical Dental Fellowship to become medical director of a local charitable Christian medical clinic in the Oklahoma City area. Fred Loper Loper, formerly…
Shepherd’s Clinic provides service to working poor
By Alice Horner It’s Tuesday afternoon in what at first looks like a typical doctor’s office. Phones are ringing and copiers beeping. Then there is something different: laughter. Employees and patients are really enjoying themselves. Welcome to Shepherd’s Clinic, a…
The contraception mandate fight
By David Gushee Congress passed the Affordable Care Act in 2010 over the strenuous objections of the Republican opposition (which continues to view it as illegitimate and hopes to see it struck down very soon). In an effort to advance…
Baptist college sues over contraceptive mandate
By Bob Allen A Baptist college in Louisiana is suing the federal government over a requirement that religious schools and hospitals cover contraceptives in insurance for their employees, including birth control pills that induce abortion. The Alliance Defense Fund filed…
Expert: Church-state problem result of employer-based insurance system
By Bob Allen A Baptist church-state scholar says religious liberty concerns about new coverage mandates come with the territory in America’s employer-based health insurance system. Melissa Rogers Melissa Rogers, director of the Center for Religion and Public Affairs at Wake…
Colson, George compare Obama health-care mandate to Nazis
By Bob Allen Two Baptist thinkers describe President Obama’s requirement that religious organizations include contraception in their employees’ health-care coverage as what some term a “Niemoeller moment” reminiscent of the slippery-slope devaluation of human rights that occurred in Nazi Germany….
Baptist leaders welcome adjustment to birth control coverage rule
By Bob Allen Baptist leaders applauded President Obama’s Feb. 10 announcement that insurance companies must pay for birth-control services for women who work for religious institutions that object to paying for them on moral grounds. “This is a positive step in…