By Bob Allen Fred Phelps, founding pastor of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., is dead at age 84, family members confirmed to local media. Phelps’ son, Timothy, told Topeka television station WIBW that his father died late Wednesday night….
Faith leaders oppose Miss. religion bill
By Bob Allen Baptist signers including ABPnew/Herald columnists Amy Butler and David Gushee were among more than 350 clergy leaders across the United States opposing a bill in Mississippi that critics say would legalize discrimination by commercial businesses throughout the…
Mohler says gay marriage a religious-liberty threat
By Bob Allen “Religious liberty has never been threatened in our lifetimes, and probably in terms of the American experiment, like it will be threatened with same-sex marriage,” Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, warned in a video…
Man challenging Alabama gay-marriage ban a Southwestern Seminary grad
By Bob Allen A Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary graduate and one-time Baptist campus minister is suing the state of Alabama for refusing to recognize his legal same-sex marriage performed in another state. Paul Hard, who earned a master-of-divinity degree from…
Baptist, Methodist pastors in Miss. oppose discrimination based on religious freedom
By Bob Allen Five Baptist and Methodist pastors have sent an open letter urging Mississippi legislators to defeat a bill, similar to one recently vetoed by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, that is headed for the House of Representatives for debate…
Southern Baptist leaders oppose anti-gay laws
By Bob Allen Two Southern Baptist Convention spokesmen criticized Uganda’s new anti-homosexuality law as government overreach and “unjust persecution” of gays in a commentary on an SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission website. ERLC President Russell Moore and Andrew Walker,…
Ky. Baptists say children’s home short on funding
By Bob Allen The Kentucky Baptist Convention is asking the state’s churches to make up a $5 million funding shortfall at Sunrise Children’s Services following controversy last fall over news that the faith-based agency was considering dropping its ban on…
Soulforce announces leadership change
By Bob Allen After four years as executive director of Soulforce, a national nonprofit protest group opposed to discrimination against gays in religious groups, Cindi Love is stepping down. Love, former national leader of the of Metropolitan Community Church, will…
Duck Dynasty and the Struggle Over Christianity
There is no such thing as Christianity. I’ll repeat myself so you know I really meant to say it: there is no such thing as Christianity. Instead what we have are reifications and definitions. As with all definitions, the various…
Smithwick out at Ky. Baptist home
By Bob Allen The president of a Baptist child care agency has resigned after a no-confidence vote in November by the Kentucky Baptist Convention for recommending that Sunrise Children’s Services drop its ban on hiring gays. No formal announcement was…
Ky. Baptists vote no-confidence in leader
By Bob Allen The Kentucky Baptist Convention passed a symbolic vote of no-confidence in an agency head who recently asked his board to consider dropping a policy against hiring gays. Messengers at the 2013 KBC annual meeting Nov. 12 in…
Baptist home considers hiring gays
This story was edited after posting to correct an error in the third paragraph from last. By Bob Allen After a dozen years defending lawsuits stemming from the firing of a lesbian worker in 1998, a Kentucky Baptist child care…