By Bob Allen The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, in a rare resolution on a public issue adopted between annual meetings of the SBC, criticized leaders who support dropping the Boy Scouts of America’s ban on gay Scouts and adult volunteers….
Tebow’s FBC, Dallas, date criticized
By Bob Allen The New York media found headline material in NFL player Tim Tebow accepting an invitation to speak at a Southern Baptist mega-church in Dallas whose pastor has in the past created controversy with public comments on gays,…
Baptist church sign wows NYC, media
By Jeff Brumley “Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.” Thus read the sign recently in front of Madison Avenue Baptist Church, a New York City congregation whose pastor is all about convincing folks…
Chick-fil-A flap didn’t hurt profits
By Bob Allen Last summer’s uproar over Chick-fil-A head Dan Cathy’s defense of the company’s support for organizations opposed to gay marriage didn’t hurt the company’s bottom line. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the fast-food giant took in $4.6 billion…
SBC says RAs could rival Scouting
By Bob Allen A decision by the Boy Scouts of America to drop its ban on openly gay Scouts and volunteers could prompt churches to find an alternative in Royal Ambassadors, a Southern Baptist missions education program for boys, according…
Activist hopeful about gay marriage
By Bob Allen A gay Baptist minister arrested after trying to apply for a marriage license in Kentucky says he is optimistic that people opposed to same-sex marriage will change their minds over time, even in conservative places like the…
British Baptists debate gay marriage
By Bob Allen The recent call by a prominent evangelical to re-examine the church’s traditional rejection of homosexuality prompted debate in the Baptist Union of Great Britain. The Baptist Times, the union’s online news journal, reported Jan. 25 that its…
Gay minister arrested in sit-in
By Bob Allen An openly gay ordained Baptist minister and his partner were arrested Jan. 22 in Louisville, Ky., for refusing to leave the county clerk’s office after they were denied a marriage license. Maurice “Bojangles” Blanchard, 34, and his…
Sermon says: ‘Keep Church Weird’
By Jeff Brumley Becky and Joshua Speight were walking the walk last year when they preached on the need to “Keep Church Weird.” “Our congregation had never seen a dual sermon before, and we had never written one together,” Becky…
UK Baptist minister affirms gays
By Bob Allen A high-profile British Baptist minister has stepped forward as the first prominent evangelical in the UK to speak out in support of faithful and monogamous same-sex relationships. Steve Chalke, 57, an ordained Baptist minister who in 1985…
UK Baptist minister affirms gays
By Bob Allen A high-profile British Baptist minister has stepped forward as the first prominent evangelical in the UK to speak out in support of faithful and monogamous same-sex relationships. Steve Chalke, 57, an ordained Baptist minister who in 1985…
Wendell Berry expounds on gay marriage
This news story originally ran on Jan. 14, 2013. Christian opponents to same-sex marriage want the government to treat homosexuals as a special category of persons subject to discrimination, similar to the way that African-Americans and women were categorized in…