Editor’s note: Joshua Hawley, who teaches at the University of Missouri Law School, is on the legal team that will defend Hobby Lobby before the U.S. Supreme Court in March. Joshua Hawley/associate professor of law COLUMBIA – Just before Thanksgiving, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it would decide the suit brought by Hobby Lobby, the national arts-and-crafts store whose owners are Southern Baptists, challenging what is sometimes called the contraceptive mandate. The mandate is … [Read more...]
Executive Board modifies church planting policy
JEFFERSON CITY – Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) Executive Board members unanimously approved a new, comprehensive church-planting strategy, designed to foster the multiplication of new churches that will reach the lost throughout Missouri. According to the Dec. 10 recommendation, the MBC will open statewide training centers “in order to become more responsive to church planting opportunities.” It states, “We are creating regional networks and simplifying the assessment and training … [Read more...]
SBC entities defend ministerial housing allowance
Tom Strode/Baptist Press WASHINGTON (BP) – The Southern Baptist Convention’s religious freedom and financial benefits entities both expressed their opposition to a federal court ruling invalidating the ministerial housing allowance. The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) and GuideStone Financial Resources protested a Nov. 22 decision by federal Judge Barbara Crabb that struck down the portion of a 1954 federal law that allows clergy to exclude for federal income tax … [Read more...]
Supreme Court to hear religious liberty case involving Hobby Lobby
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments in the Hobby Lobby v. Sebelius case, a much anticipated case that pits religious liberty versus a provision of the Affordable Care Act known as the Health and Human Services (HHS) Mandate. Russell D. Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) reacts to the decision: “The Supreme Court’s consideration of the Hobby Lobby case is the most important religious liberty … [Read more...]
ERLC’s Russell Moore emphasizes gospel-centered political engagement
Tom Strode/Baptist Press WASHINGTON (BP) – A new, more conservative generation of evangelical Christians should engage politics, not retreat from it, because of the gospel of Jesus, Southern Baptist Ethicist Russell D. Moore says in the latest issue of First Things. Writing in the influential journal, the president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission says the apparent return to a confessional, gospel-centered faith among evangelicals – which he describes as “good news” – … [Read more...]
Mocking marriage and Missouri voters
Last month Gov. Jay Nixon directed the state Department of Revenue to accept joint tax filings from same-sex couples who were “married” in another state, but live here. Now the Missouri National Guard is issuing ID cards to same-sex “married” couples in order to process spousal benefits even though they were “married” in another state. Both actions defy Missouri’s Constitution, which was amended by voters 71 percent to 29 percent in 2004, defining marriage as between one man and one … [Read more...]
Prayer lawsuit filed against Fayette school
FAYETTE – Voluntary prayer in schools is under attack in the central Missouri town of Fayette. The American Humanist Association (AHA), a progressive group that actively lobbies for separation of church and state, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri claiming the prayer sessions held at Fayette High School violated students’ constitutional rights. Also listed as plaintiffs are “GH,” a sophomore at Fayette High School last year (though no longer a … [Read more...]
The Original Statue of Liberty
By Verna M. Linzey WASHINGTON (Christian Newswire) -- The first monument erected to honor America's Christian foundation is the National Monument to the Forefathers, and it is the original Statue of Liberty. But now it is not mentioned in humanistic revisions of American history. However, it honors religious freedom and the Christian principles on which America was founded. The largest granite monument standing 81 feet tall, it was commissioned by the Pilgrim Society, designed by Hammatt … [Read more...]
Scripture Distribution Increases in Persecution Hotspot
SWINDON, England /Christian Newswire/ -- Bible Societies in some of the countries where Christians suffer high levels of persecution are reporting a sharp rise in the number of Scriptures distributed. There is no doubt that the persecution of Christians is on the rise. Official reports and news articles are describing it as a 'war on Christians', with horrifying statistics clearly showing that Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world.* But recent figures from Bible … [Read more...]
Prison transfer puts Abedini ‘directly at risk’ in Iran
Grace Thornton/Baptist Press TEHRAN, Iran (BP) – The life of American pastor Saeed Abedini is “directly at risk” after he was transferred Nov. 3 to an “even more dangerous” Iranian prison, according to Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice. “Rajai Shahr Prison is where prisoners are sent to disappear – many are murdered at the hands of other prisoners,” Sekulow said. Abedini’s move to Rajai Shahr Prison – where he is being held in a cell block with … [Read more...]
Whiteheads prepare brief, attend key hearing at U.S. Supreme Court
WASHINGTON – Missouri Baptist Convention General Legal Counsel Michael Whitehead and his son, Jonathan, co-wrote the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission’s (ERLC) brief in defense of prayer for the city of Greece, N.Y., in its case argued recently at the U.S. Supreme Court. The Whiteheads, who are members of Abundant Life Baptist Church in Lee’s Summit, also attended the oral arguments on the case before the U.S. Supreme Court. “While some justices were tempted to parse the words of … [Read more...]
Missouri leaders: ENDA threatens religious liberty
WASHINGTON – In a move that many believe could jeopardize religious liberty, the United States Senate passed legislation that will protect homosexual and transgendered individuals from discrimination under federal employment law. According to the bill, employers cannot discriminate against employees or potential employees on the basis of “sexual orientation” or “gender identity,” which were added alongside the protected classifications of race, color, national origin, gender, age and … [Read more...]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 29
- 30
- 31
- 32
- 33
- 34
- Next Page »