By Bob Allen Instability in Ukraine cast a spotlight on the former Soviet republic’s minority Baptist religious population with the selection of interim president Oleksandr Turchynov, a veteran politician, author and lay preacher at the Word of Life Center in…
U.S. Baptist church group amid violence in Kiev
By Bob Allen Violence in the Ukraine is up close and personal for a Southern Baptist church in Texas praying for an eight-member mission team working with college students Feb. 13-March 2 in Kiev. Missionaries from First Baptist Church in…
SBC leader says Russia isn’t pro-family, despite anti-gay laws
By Bob Allen The Southern Baptist Convention’s top spokesman for moral and public policy concerns says Russian President Vladimir Putin lacks moral authority to criticize Western countries for abandoning Christian values. “It really kind of makes my blood boil when…
Brief says Hobby Lobby puts RFRA on trial
By Bob Allen The Southern Baptist owners of Hobby Lobby claim in a Supreme Court brief filed Feb. 10 that mandated coverage of contraceptives under Obamacare is a textbook violation of a 1993 law enacted with broad support to prevent…
A faulty worldview
The news recently broke that Virginia’s new Attorney General plans to ask a federal judge to declare the Commonwealth’s voter-passed constitutional amendment officially upholding the traditional understanding of marriage unconstitutional. This move is entirely unsurprising even as it is deeply…
Obama stresses religious freedom at prayer breakfast
By Bob Allen Promoting religious freedom abroad is a key objective of U.S. foreign policy, President Obama told a crowd of about 3,500 at the 62nd National Prayer Breakfast at the Washington Hilton Feb. 6. “There are times when we work…
New ERLC head narrows legislative agenda
By Bob Allen Russell Moore’s legislative agenda for the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission parallels those of his predecessor Richard Land but leaves out concerns embraced by Land, viewed as a leader in the Religious Right. Like Land,…
Scholar claims in legal brief that RFRA is unconstitutional
By Bob Allen Amid a flurry of legal briefs anticipating a Supreme Court decision this year to decide whether a 20-year-old law protecting an individual’s right to religious exercise also applies to corporations, one high-profile legal scholar argues the law…
State of the Union draws attention to U.S. missionary jailed in North Korea
By Bob Allen The sister and mother of an American imprisoned in North Korea accepted an invitation to attend Tuesday’s State of the Union address in hopes of raising awareness about efforts to win his release. Earlier in the day,…