EDE, Netherlands (ABP) — A friendly debate about the Bible, human sexuality and the church’s response to the advance of gay rights during the Baptist World Alliance’s recent annual gathering revealed differences between some in the developing world and some…
Q&A with Baptist World Alliance president-elect John Upton
EDE, Netherlands (ABP) — Members of the Baptist World Alliance General Council affirmed John Upton as the organization’s presidential nominee July 31. Assuming he is elected by the group’s quinquennial Baptist World Congress meeting next year in Honolulu, Upton will…
Baptists support separation of church and state, but not all agree what it means
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Baptists have, since their earliest days, been advocates of religious liberty and its corollary, the separation of church and state. But different groups of modern-day Baptists in the United States interpret church-state separation — and the Constitution’s…
On church-state issues, Obama brings new perspective, incremental policy change
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Americans who expected President Obama to make swift and dramatic changes from his predecessor on church-state relations may be disappointed. In his first few months in office, Obama has indicated only a handful of alterations to President…
ABCUSA delegates reject bylaw changes
PASADENA, Calif. (ABP) — While celebrating the denomination’s broad ethnic, regional and language diversity at their biennial meeting June 26-28, members of the American Baptist Churches USA also exhibited their ideological diversity. Delegates, meeting in Pasadena, Calif., torpedoed a major…
Young pastors urge CBF supporters to ‘embrace the world’
HOUSTON (ABP) — Participants at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship general assembly heard a visceral call to embrace the world — and all their neighbors — in worship. Taylor Sandlin, pastor of Southland Baptist Church in San Angelo, Texas, helps participants…
Young pastors encourage CBF supporters to ‘Embrace the World’
HOUSTON (ABP) — Attendees to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly got a visceral call to embrace the world — and all their neighbors — in worship July 2. About 2,000 attendees and guests on the first night of the…
Study: Ranks of religiously unaffiliated grow, but remain often open to faith
WASHINGTON (ABP) — While the fastest-growing religious segment of the United States population is those who are not affiliated with a particular religion, that group is not necessarily comprised of secularists and largely remains open to faith, a new study…
Vermont is first state to approve gay marriage legislatively
MONTPELIER, Vt. (ABP) — On April 7, Vermont became the first jurisdiction in the United States to legalize same-sex marriage through legislative means. The decision comes less than five days after the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously overturned a law banning…