By Bob Allen American Baptist Women’s Ministries will lead an online “virtual mission encounter” on the topic of domestic violence Sept. 23-27. “Garlands instead of Ashes: Domestic Violence” is the third of four learning opportunities in 2013 allowing women to…
SBC ethicist fires shot in gender war
By Bob Allen A California law letting transgender students in public schools choose access to boy’s or girl’s restrooms and sports locker rooms has put Southern Baptists’ new ethics head in the center of a national debate over LGBT politics….
SBC ethicist fires shot in gender war
By Bob Allen A California law letting transgender students in public schools choose access to boy’s or girl’s restrooms and sports locker rooms has put Southern Baptists’ new ethics head in the center of a national debate over LGBT politics….
Baptists support discrimination ban
By Bob Allen Baptist preachers opposing a ban on discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations based on sexual orientation in Frankfort, Ky., don’t speak for all members of the Baptist faith, moderate and progressive ministers contended in an op-ed…
American folk religion
When I was in college, I had the privilege of spending a couple of weeks in Mexico, on a mission trip, as a member of something called a “youth choir”. A couple of pre-emptive answers to your inevitable questions: Yes, our shirts always matched….
Baptist camp hosts pistol class
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist camp in Illinois plans to host a National Rifle Association pistol course intended to help participants qualify for permits under the state’s newly passed concealed-carry law. The eight-hour course is scheduled for Saturday, Sept….
Ethicist criticizes Rangel’s ‘cracker’ remark
By Bob Allen A moderate Baptist ethicist compared Rep. Charlie Rangel’s recent use of the term “white cracker” to cooking celebrity Paula Deen and NFL player Riley Cooper using the “N-word.” The difference, Robert Parham of the Baptist Center for…
They are your brothers
The news of late has been enough to depress just about anyone who longs for and fights for justice, fairness, and equality. We have seen states trying to limit a woman’s access to healthcare and limit her right to make her own…
Trial for gay Baptist minister postponed
By Bob Allen A misdemeanor trespassing trial for a gay Baptist minister and his partner who refused to leave a city clerk’s office after being denied a marriage license was postponed Monday when attorneys were unable to come up with…
Gay minister’s trespassing trial begins
By Bob Allen The trial for an openly gay ordained Baptist minister and his partner arrested in January for refusing to leave a government building where they were denied a marriage license begins today in Louisville, Ky. Pretrial hearings were scheduled…
Baptist ethicist signs abuse petition
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist ethicist has endorsed an online petition urging greater transparency about sexual abuse occurring in evangelical churches. Ben Mitchell, Graves Professor ofMoral Philosophy at Union University in Jackson, Tenn., added his signature to “A Public…
Residents still fighting Tenn. mosque
By Bob Allen Mosque opponents in Murfreesboro, Tenn., want the county to seize a newly constructed Islamic Center and turn it over to someone else. J. Thomas Smith, an attorney for citizens asking the Tennessee Supreme Court to overturn an…