By Bob Allen Leaders of the 122-church Alliance of Baptists announced a goal of recruiting 50 Alliance churches to participate in the second annual Gun Violence Prevention Sabbath in March co-sponsored by Faiths United to Prevent Gun Violence and the…
Religious leaders oppose Ga. gun law in full-page newspaper ad
By Robert Dilday Nearly 200 interfaith religious leaders — including at least a dozen Baptists — took out a full-page ad in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Feb. 26 to oppose a bill in the Georgia legislature which would lift restrictions on…
Youth minister charged with indecency
By Bob Allen A former Baptist church youth minister in Mississippi is free on a $25,000 bond and awaiting a March 12 court hearing on a charge of gratification of lust involving a 14-year-old boy he knew through his church….
“Corporations are people, my friend” — Hobby Lobby and religious freedom
Less than two years after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act, President Obama’s most significant legislative accomplishment, “Obamacare” is set to be back before the High Court next month. Oral arguments for Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores,…
Dueling columns pit SBC leader against pundits
By Bob Allen The head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission pushed back at criticism by Fox News analyst Kirsten Powers and culture writer Jonathan Merritt that it’s hypocritical for a Christian photographer to refuse to…
Five challenges of diversity
How strange it has seemed to us to live in Houston. The Houston we left 28 years ago and the Houston we call home today are two entirely different places, though they share the same geographic location. It was about…
Former SBC leader warns of ‘thriving business’ behind gay surrogacy
By Bob Allen The Southern Baptist Convention’s former top expert on moral and public policy concerns says same-sex marriage is opening doors for a gay-surrogacy movement that he predicts will be harmful to children. “We’ve conducted a 40-year experiment in…
No marriage at all? Why Oklahoma lawmakers are onto something
In a recent interview with News 9 in Oklahoma City, state representative Mike Turner said, “[My constituents are] willing to have that discussion about whether marriage needs to be regulated by the state at all.” When I heard that quote…
Former youth pastor gets 12 years for sexting teen he met through church
By Bob Allen A former youth minister at a Baptist church in Texas, who admitted to exchanging sexually explicit text messages and photos with an underage girl from his church, has been sentenced to 12 years in federal prison. Joshua…