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...]
Target’s bathroom fix falls short, boycotters say
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (BP) – Target’s $20 million plan to add single-stall bathrooms in its U.S. stores does not fix its policy allowing bathroom and dressing room use based on gender identity, the leader of a national boycott against the company said. Target announced Aug. 17 the timeline and cost of its plan to install the locking, single-toilet bathrooms for customers who feel uncomfortable using the bathroom with those who identify as transgendered. Details of the plan came the same day … [Read more...]
America’s demographic winter
Is America heading for a demographic cold snap? The fertility forecast is gloomy these days. We’ve talked before on BreakPoint about the fertility crisis facing China, Japan, and much of Europe—all of which face what has been called a “demographic winter.” Until recently, the United States has been an exception to this distressing trend, but this seems no longer the case. To understand why, here’s a primer. Demographers use two numbers to measure fertility rates: the average number of … [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...]
Scholars refute Times transgenderism op-ed
NASHVILLE (BP) – A New York Times op-ed suggesting the Old Testament supports transgenderism has been classified by Southern Baptist seminary professors as a mischaracterization of Hebrew grammar and theology. “It should not surprise any of us that if we want to find something in Scripture, then we will twist it to say what we want it to say,” Paul Wegner, professor of Old Testament studies at Gateway Seminary of the Southern Baptist Convention, told Baptist Press. Mark Sameth, a Reform … [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...]
Voter registration resources available
JEFFERSON CITY – All the resources churches need to conduct a voter registration campaign are free and ready for ordering. The Missouri Baptist Convention’s (MBC) Christian Life Commission has partnered with Concerned Women for America of Missouri to offer the packets in preparation for the Nov. 8 general election. Deadline to register is Oct. 12. “In addition to praying, we must cast our votes to fulfill our Christian responsibility toward government, one of three institutions – along … [Read more...]
Back to school
“My son, keep my words, And treasure my commands within you….bind them on your fingers; Write them on the tablet of your heart.” Proverbs 7:1,3 Much time and attention is given to providing school supplies and new clothes to prepare children to go back to school in the fall. How much Spiritual preparation do we give our children to face the many challenges they will undoubtedly encounter? It seems that many of us are often guilty of waiting until problems arise and then attempting to … [Read more...]
Supreme court blocks transgender rulings
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...]
Racism alleged as part of pastor’s termination
BUTLER, Ala. (BP) – A former Alabama pastor and the rural congregation that terminated him last July 31 have offered varying reports to media outlets regarding the role racism played in the 31-0 vote to dismiss him. Mt. Sterling Baptist Church in Butler, Ala., was the subject of news stories by WTOK television in nearby Meridian, Miss., the AL.com news website and other media outlets when it fired pastor Jonathan Greer, 26, over what Greer described as “pushback” against his intention to … [Read more...]
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