Faith leaders across the country and in Texas wrote letters May 3 urging state legislators to reject proposed “bathroom bills” similar to North Carolina’s controversial HB2, a measure partially repealed due to pressure from economic boycotts. Clergy gathered Wednesday morning…
Alliance of Baptists encourages churches to welcome transgender persons
Meeting in North Carolina April 27-29, members of the Alliance of Baptists called on affiliated churches to engage in “political activism grounded in a compassionate theology” in opposition to laws restricting access to public gender-segregated restrooms and other facilities based…
AWAB leader among clergy, groups, speaking up for fired transgender mortician
The chair-elect of the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists joined 74 other faith leaders and religious and civil-rights organizations in a legal brief filed April 24 supporting a former transgender funeral home employee in Michigan who claimed she was…
Four dozen Baptists side with transgender teen in bathroom battle
Nearly 50 clergy members identifying with the Alliance of Baptists, American Baptist Churches USA or Cooperative Baptist Fellowship joined a legal brief filed March 2 supporting a transgender student’s case before the U.S. Supreme Court. In all more than 1,800…
Religious groups say public restrooms should be segregated by sex, not gender identity
The Southern Baptist Convention joined Catholic, Jewish, Mormon and other religious groups in a recent brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a lower court decision allowing transgender students in public schools to use the restroom of their choice…
Baptist minister unlikely advocate for transgender community
A Cooperative Baptist Fellowship pastor and contributing columnist to Baptist News Global described 768 words that transformed his ministry in a TEDx Talk presentation now available online. Mark Wingfield, associate pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, spoke in November at…
Speaker says Genderbread Person highlights need for Christian schools
Editor’s note: This story was edited after posting to correct errors in the second and third paragraphs. The retired head of an organization of Christian schools claimed young children in public schools are being indoctrinated in beliefs such as “transgenderism”…
Arkansas Baptists say transgenderism is in the mind
Southern Baptists in Arkansas opposed efforts by the government to legitimize transgender identity in one of eight resolutions adopted during the Oct. 25-26 Arkansas Baptist State Convention annual meeting in Little Rock. The resolution described “gender dysphoria” — the medical term…
Poll finds consensus on contraception, division over gay marriage and transgender controversies
Two-thirds of American adults believe employers who have religious objections to contraception should be required to cover birth control as part of their employees’ insurance plan, according to a new Pew Research Center survey about recent controversies pitting claims of religious liberty…