By Bob Allen Southern Baptist Convention official Russell Moore joined other faith leaders Nov. 13 in a meeting with President Obama, Vice President Biden and senior administration officials to discuss action toward common-sense immigration reform. Moore, president of the SBC…
RFRA needed now more than ever
By Bob Allen A little-known federal law enacted to bolster the rights of religious minorities is less popular but more needed now than when it became law 20 years ago, the head of a broad coalition that worked for passage…
Keep the gov’mint in our bizness
By Joe Phelps Sunrise Children’s Services, the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s agency for at-risk children, receives $26 million of its $27 million budget — over 96 percent — from government funding, according to an Oct. 31 Courier-Journal report about its ongoing…
Lawyer says religious liberty at risk
By Bob Allen Religious liberty is becoming a casualty of America’s culture wars, a leading expert on the separation of church and state told an audience Nov. 7 at the Newseum in Washington. “I certainly didn’t predict the last 20…
Church, state and taxes spark debate
By Vicki Brown Congress established the 501(c)3 tax-exempt status applicable to churches, religious organizations and ministers “in recognition of their unique status in American society,” the IRS claims in its Tax Guide for Churches and Religious Organizations. The designation benefits…
Tom DeLay says he’s on divine mission
By Bob Allen A month after a Texas appellate court overturned his conviction of corruption charges that ended his political career, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay says he is on a mission from God. DeLay, who accepted Christ during…
Immigration ‘personal,’ Baptist leader says
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist Convention official says evangelicals are galvanizing around immigration reform because increasingly if affects someone they know. “A primary motivating factor for us is this has become personal for us,” Barrett Duke, vice president for…
AU defends contraceptive mandate
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist business owner’s religious objection to the use of emergency contraceptives does not trump his employees’ right to obtain health insurance under Obamacare, civil liberties and religious groups said in papers filed Oct. 28 in…
Baptists in Uzbekistan lose camp
By Bob Allen A court in Uzbekistan has ordered confiscation of property purchased 13 years ago by Uzbekistan’s Baptist Union for use as a summer camp, according to a report by Forum 18, a global news service that monitors abuse…
Right rejects Baptist leader’s ‘pullback’ call
By Bob Allen Southern Baptists’ new leader for public policy concerns is drawing criticism from the Religious Right for public comments calling for a truce in the American culture wars. Russell Moore, the 42-year-old president of the Southern Baptist Ethics…
SBC leader defends ‘sectarian’ prayer
By Bob Allen The Southern Baptist Convention’s top expert on religious-liberty concerns says the U.S. Supreme Court should uphold a New York town’s practice of opening its city council meetings with sectarian prayer. “A prayer, by definition, isn’t a speech…
Baptist editors visit Syrian refugee family
By Bill Webb Sitting on cushions in an almost bare apartment in a crowded Palestinian neighborhood in Amman, Jordan, a family of Syrian refugees began to tell their story through an interpreter to a pair of visiting Baptist journalists from…