ASHEVILLE, N.C. (BP) – The Council for Christian Colleges and Universities has adopted new guidelines to address evolving differences among member schools on the definition of marriage. “We believe that this document rightly articulates both the core and the breadth of the CCCU in a way that will make us the most effective witness and advocate for Christian higher education,” board chairman Charles Pollard, president of John Brown University, wrote to CCCU presidents in a letter dated … [Read more...]
New report endangers liberty
WASHINGTON (BP) – Religious liberty as Americans have known it throughout their history will suffer a critical setback if a new report by the country’s top civil rights panel is followed, say Southern Baptist and other advocates for the First Amendment freedom. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR) declared in its Sept. 7 report protections to ensure nondiscrimination “are of preeminent importance in American jurisprudence” and religious exemptions from safeguards for such … [Read more...]
Church exemptions to SOGI identity laws at risk in Mass.
BOSTON (WNS) – Massachusetts has become the latest state to approve protected class status for transgender persons, and churches should not expect any exemption from the law that goes into effect Oct. 1. According to the Gender Identity Guidance report by the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, churches be can considered places of public accommodation and subjected to fines and penalties for not accommodating transgender persons in accordance with their gender identity. The … [Read more...]
N.C. restroom bill doesn’t deter plans for SBC annual meeting in 2023
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (BP) – Amid controversy over North Carolina’s controversial transgender restroom law, Southern Baptist Convention leaders estimate they’re less than two weeks away from finalizing contracts to hold the 2023 SBC annual meeting in Charlotte. And they say they’re glad to support the state for its moral stand on gender and sexuality. SBC President Steve Gaines said that “while other organizations such as the NCAA, NBA and NFL are seeking to punish North Carolinians for their … [Read more...]
A consequential election for our nation’s judiciary
To modify the book title of a conservative classic written by the incomparable English professor Richard Weaver, elections have consequences. That fact will play-out Nov. 8. Hanging in the balance is control of the U.S. Supreme Court, all 13 U.S. Circuit Appellate Courts, hundreds of federal and state judicial appointments and our state’s attorney general. Voters will chart, for decades to come, one of two courses for our federal and state judiciaries. Will we have judges who uphold the … [Read more...]
Atheists object to Mizzou’s chaplains, prayers
COLUMBIA – Atheists with the Madison-Wis.-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) are renewing their objection to the University of Missouri’s football chaplaincy. FFRF initially contacted Mizzou in August of last year to complain about its chaplaincy program. The university replied that it had no intention of changing its program. The university’s response contended that Mizzou’s football chaplaincy is acceptable because it is voluntary. The chaplaincy includes “access to a … [Read more...]
Former U.S. Attorney General, former ERLC Prez to keynote ‘Unshakeable Truth’ conference
LEBANON – On October 15-16, hundreds of believers will gather here in Lebanon for the Unshakable Truth Worldview Conference. The conference, hosted by Heritage Baptist Church, will feature Christian leaders and scholars from across the country who will speak about major cultural issues of the day, according to organizers. Speakers include, among others, former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, Former Ethics & Religious Liberty President Richard Land, and Answers in Genesis Spokesman … [Read more...]
First Amendment rights are under attack
If you feel like your government has made you a target for exercising your First Amendment rights (specifically freedom of speech and religion), you now have good reason. The demonizing of conservative Christians is spreading in numbers and intensifying in its vitriolic rants. Lest you think Missouri will escape such behavior, think again. In recent days a top Obama administration official and Hillary Clinton, the Democrat nominee for president, both attacked people who oppose same-sex … [Read more...]
‘Sad’ Russian anti-evangelism law ends a ministry
ORYOL, Russia (BP) -- Missionaries Donald and Ruth Ossewaarde always suspected their Gospel ministry in Oryol, Russia, wouldn't last when they began in 2002, he told Baptist Press by telephone from his home in the central Russian town of 320,000. But he had not expected to be among the first people arrested under Russia's new law prohibiting organizations from evangelizing outside church walls and without a government permit. Two weeks after police interrupted Ossewaarde's Sunday … [Read more...]
Baptist institutions wait for abortion mandate solution
WASHINGTON (BP) – Southern Baptist-affiliated institutions are maintaining their stand against the Obama administration’s abortion/contraception mandate while they continue to wait for a satisfactory legal resolution. GuideStone Financial Resources and four Baptist universities – East Texas Baptist, Houston Baptist, Oklahoma Baptist and Truett McConnell – are among 92 nonprofit religious organizations awaiting what they hope will be an agreement with the federal government that protects … [Read more...]
Roy Moore to stand trial for gay marriage order
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (BP) – With Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore set to stand trial next month on charges he defied federal court rulings on same-sex marriage, a legal adviser to Alabama Baptists’ public policy auxiliary has called the allegations against him unmerited. At issue in Moore’s case is a Jan. 6 administrative order in which he stated Alabama’s 68 probate judges had “a ministerial duty not to issue any marriage licenses contrary to” the state’s ban on same-sex marriage until the … [Read more...]
Few pastors asked to perform same-sex weddings following SCOTUS ruling
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (LifeWay) – More than 100,000 same-sex couples have tied the knot since the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriages nationwide last year. But for preachers, being asked to do a same-sex wedding remains rare. A new survey by Nashville-based LifeWay Research found 11 percent of Protestant senior pastors have been asked to perform a same-sex wedding. Baptist pastors (1 percent) are the least likely to say they were asked to perform a same-sex wedding. … [Read more...]
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