By Bob Allen Next year the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty will launch a new advocacy program for young professionals, the Washington-based church-state watchdog group announced Dec. 8. The BJC Fellows Program is for people from diverse educational, professional…
Half of Americans want separation between church and state in marriage
By Bob Allen About half of Americans and a quarter of Protestant ministers believe clergy should say “I don’t” to the tradition of solemnizing marriages as agents of the state, according to a new poll by LifeWay Research. The research…
Officials get mixed messages about right of conscience in marriage laws
By Bob Allen Government clerks have no legal right to refuse to issue a marriage license to same-sex couples in a state where gay marriage is legal, Americans United for Separation of Church and State said in a legal memorandum…
Religion’s killing fields: When will we ever learn?
By Bill Leonard “Afterwards it happened, before I had ever heard of the existence of [Anabaptist] brethren, that a godfearing, pious man, named Sicke Snyder, was beheaded at Leeuwarden, for being rebaptized. It sounded strange to me, to hear a…
Maryland school board ‘steals’ Christmas
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist leader in Maryland denounced a local school board’s decision to eliminate references to all religious holidays on its published calendar for 2015-2016. The Montgomery County Board of Education voted 7-1 to make the change…
A new day in America
We are entering a new day in America. Do you feel excited yet? New things always bring with them a bit of trepidation, but there’s so much buzz about this particular new day that it can’t be bad, right? Well,…
Freeing the web: A human rights and religious freedom agenda
By Elijah Brown There is an opportunity to stand with thousands of human rights activists and persecuted religious minorities in a way that could literally change the world. 4.9 billion people live in countries where either complete or partial restrictions…
Houston subpoenas doubly disturbing
By Marv Knox Houston Mayor Annise Parker might be in the running for the next Nobel Peace Prize for accomplishing the seemingly impossible. Her honor’s administration inadvertently gathered fundamentalist and liberal Christians, Muslims and Jews, and even Baha’is and Baptists…
Broad Baptist coalition asks Houston mayor to withdraw subpoenas for sermons
By Bob Allen Moderate and conservative Baptists set aside differences in an Oct. 15 letter opposing subpoenas ordering five Houston pastors to turn over sermons as evidence in a lawsuit seeking repeal of the city’s non-discrimination ordinance. Top leaders of…