WASHINGTON (BP) – The U.S. Supreme Court has blocked for now lower-court decisions requiring a Virginia school district to enable a female student who identifies as male to use the boys’ restroom. The justices announced, Aug. 3, they had put on hold a June ruling by a federal court ordering the Gloucester County School Board to permit Gavin Grimm to use the male restroom while the case is settled in court. Grimm, 17, is a female biologically but considers herself a male. The Supreme … [Read more...]
CCCU board considers membership requirements
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (BP) – The Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) board of directors is considering recommendations for new membership and affiliate guidelines during meetings this week, amid differences over same-sex marriage hiring policies. The regular July board meeting – taking place at the council’s Oxford study abroad location – comes after a special task force spent nine months exploring CCCU’s categories of affiliation. The task force has submitted its final … [Read more...]
St. Louis Association calls, equips churches to love refugees
ST. LOUIS – Nearly 20 years ago, Missouri Baptists here missed an opportunity to reach the nations, but the St. Louis Metro Baptist Association is preparing for a second chance at gospel impact. Beginning in the mid-1990s, thousands of Bosnians—many of them Muslims—fled for refuge to St. Louis after the collapse of former Yugoslavia. Today, tens of thousands of Bosnians live in the area, making St. Louis the home for the most Bosnians worldwide, outside of their native homeland. Today, … [Read more...]
Lawsuit targets city’s grant to National Baptists
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (BP) – Atheists have sued a National Baptist pastor and Kansas City government leaders over a $65,000 grant approved for use during the Baptist group's upcoming national convention in the city. The grant to John Modest Miles Ministries, a community nonprofit arm of Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church in Kansas City, violates Missouri law that prohibits public aid for religious purposes, American Atheists Inc. and two of its Kansas City members claim in a lawsuit … [Read more...]
Someone declared war on religious liberty
Within the last month events set the international stage for significant crushing of religious liberty. One event was reported July 13 in the Wall Street Journal. Vladimir Putin rattled chains against religious liberty with a new anti-terrorism law that goes into effect at the end of the month. The law prohibits the sharing of the gospel anywhere but at government-sanctioned religious sites. The target was primarily the Mormons that spooked some members of the Politburo to overreact to … [Read more...]
Ban on transgender troops repealed
WASHINGTON (BP) – The Obama administration’s decision to allow openly transgender people to serve in the U.S. military has been classified by Southern Baptist leaders with military ties as “deluded,” “disastrous” and a step toward self-inflicted “national weakness.” Military chaplains endorsed by the North American Mission Board, along with other Christian chaplains, appear to be “in the crosshairs of this new policy,” NAMB executive director of chaplaincy Douglas Carver told Baptist … [Read more...]
On life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” – Second paragraph, Declaration of Independence of the United States In one 48-hour span, the U.S. Supreme Court threw “Life” and “Liberty” under the steamroller of political correctness. Instead of interpreting the law, the Court advanced a political social agenda that grieves … [Read more...]
Miss. Religious freedom law struck down
Evan Wilt/WNS JACKSON, Miss. (WNS) – A federal judge blocked religious-liberty protections in Mississippi on June 30 hours before they were set to go into effect. In a last minute, 60-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves struck down all provisions to protect religious people from being forced to participate same-sex weddings in House Bill 1523, calling the law “state-sanctioned discrimination.” “Every American should be alarmed at the speed and aggression with which our … [Read more...]
MBC church plants in Iowa threatened by civil rights law
DES MOINES, Iowa – An Iowa law could threaten Missouri Baptist work in the state through the Heartland Interstate Strategy (HIS), an initiative to multiply churches along the I-29 corridor from Kansas City, through the western edge of Iowa, and up to the Canadian city of Winnipeg. If the Iowa Civil Rights Commission’s interpretation of state civil rights laws is upheld, the state could force churches to open restrooms to people of the opposite sex and prohibit preachers from proclaiming … [Read more...]
Violence brings cry for ‘true way of our Lord’
NASHVILLE (BP) – The collision of fear and mistrust has driven the violence upon violence that killed two black civilians and five police officers in three separate states in as many days, Southern Baptist pastor Lee Wesley told Baptist Press. "There is a fear on the part of police officers when they go into the black community, and that fear heightens their approach to these problems," said Wesley, whose pastorate Community Bible Baptist Church is in Baton Rouge, La., where two white … [Read more...]
Pastors seek biblical politics
ST. LOUIS (BP) – Proclaiming Scripture instead of promoting controversy is their approach when addressing political issues, pastors said during a June 15 panel discussion at the 2016 Southern Baptist Convention. Five Southern Baptist pastors explained to Ronnie Floyd, now former SBC president, during the afternoon session how they handle political issues in their churches. The panel discussion – titled “Pastors and the Church in American Politics Today” and moderated by Floyd – came during … [Read more...]
Resolutions address culture, ministry
ST. LOUIS (BP) – Messengers to the 2016 Southern Baptist Convention, in addition to repudiating the display of the Confederate battle flag, approved 11 other resolutions on a variety of culture and ministry concerns. For Stephen Rummage, chairman of the Resolutions Committee, a resolution calling Southern Baptists to evangelize was central to the 10-member panel’s deliberations in presenting the 12 measures to the messengers. The resolution on evangelism “might just seem like a standard … [Read more...]
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