By Bob Allen An 87-year-old former Soviet-era prisoner of conscience and Baptist pastor has been fined for conducting religious activities without state permission in Kazakhstan. Forum 18, an international news service that monitors religious freedom violations, says Yegor Prokopenko, pastor…
From libraries to launching pads: cultural shifts in seminaries
According to stereotypes I’ve heard, seminary culture used to be something like this: Future ministers pack up their lives, move cities, rent a small apartment on campus and find a corner in the library in order to learn how to…
New York church giving away assault rifle
By Bob Allen An independent Baptist pastor in upstate New York is offering a drawing for an AR-15 assault rifle on March 23, one-upping the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s controversial “Second Amendment Celebrations,” which give away shotguns and rifles to lure…
Mohler says gay marriage a religious-liberty threat
By Bob Allen “Religious liberty has never been threatened in our lifetimes, and probably in terms of the American experiment, like it will be threatened with same-sex marriage,” Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, warned in a video…
Pastor: Not all Baptists OK with guns in church
By Bob Allen Twenty-five Georgia Baptists including staff members of the Decatur-based Cooperative Baptist Fellowship joined a pastor in disputing claims that a Georgia Baptist Convention official spoke for Georgia Baptists when he testified in support of legislation to allow…
Engaging Compassionate Curiosity on Sexuality
In a recent visit to the Wake Forest Divinity School, Baptist minister and PhD candidate Cody Sanders shared reflections on his book, Queer Lessons for Churches on the Straight and Narrow, and the intersection of the church and human sexuality….
Man challenging Alabama gay-marriage ban a Southwestern Seminary grad
By Bob Allen A Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary graduate and one-time Baptist campus minister is suing the state of Alabama for refusing to recognize his legal same-sex marriage performed in another state. Paul Hard, who earned a master-of-divinity degree from…
Minister sentenced for child sex abuse
By Bob Allen A former children’s minister at an Alabama Baptist church was sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to child sex abuse March 7. Jeffrey Dale Eddie, 41, longtime associate pastor for children and church administration…
Baptists fined in Belarus for illegal worship
By Bob Allen Four Baptists in Belarus paid fines after losing appeals for holding worship services without government permission. Forum 18, an international news service that specializes in religious-freedom issues, reported that Pastor Aleksandr Zolotarev, arrested in a Dec. 22…