US conservative faith leaders praise Johnson for House’s approval of foreign aid
United States RNS Conservative religious leaders who had been imploring Speaker Mike Johnson to back assistance for Ukraine and Israel in fighting their wars celebrated the House’s passage of foreign aid packages Saturday, clearing the way for the measures to go to the Senate. Brent Leatherwood, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious […]
US Baptist leaders urge House Speaker Mike Johnson to support Ukrainian Christians
United States RNS Southern Baptist leaders have written to US House Speaker Mike Johnson, a member and former official of their denomination, urging him to support Ukraine in Russia’s war against its Eastern European neighbour. “As you consider efforts to support Ukraine, we humbly ask that you consider the plight of Christians,” wrote the leaders, […]
Conservative Christians praise Trump’s anti-abortion record but say he’s stopped short of the goal
United States AP For conservative, anti-abortion Christians, former President Donald Trump delivered in four years what no other Republican before him had been able to do: A conservative majority US Supreme Court that would go on to overturn Roe v Wade, a Holy Grail of the movement. With abortion rights now controlled by each state, rather than […]
In the US, Bruce Frank, former SBC abuse taskforce leader, joins crowded SBC presidential race
United States RNS A North Carolina pastor who championed sex abuse reforms in the Southern Baptist Convention plans to run for president of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. Bruce Frank, longtime pastor of Biltmore Church in Asheville, announced on Tuesday that he would allow his name to be placed for nomination at the SBC’s annual […]
Music: In ‘God Gave Rock & Roll to You’, Leah Payne details the rise and fall of CCM
BOB SMIETANA, of Religion News Service, speaks with author Leah Payne about her new book, ‘God Gave Rock & Roll To You’…
Southern Baptists pick a California seminary president to lead its troubled administrative body
United States AP A top Southern Baptist administrative body has selected its first permanent leader in nearly two-and-a-half years, a time when it has navigated a tumult of controversies ranging from a sexual abuse scandal to financial struggles – to its own stumbling efforts to find a new president. Jeff Iorg, the longtime president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s […]
What is happening with the SBC and the Department of Justice?
United States RNS Last week, lawyers for the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee say they were contacted by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and were told an investigation into the committee’s handling of sexual abuse had been closed. News about the status of the investigation eventually leaked, and on […]
US Department of Justice closes investigation into SBC’s handling of abuse
United States RNS Federal officials have concluded an investigation into sexual abuse in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, with no charges being filed. News that the investigation was closed was first reported by The Tennessean newspaper in Nashville. The first day of the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting at the Ernest N Morial Convention Center […]
In the US, Southern Baptist taskforce announces plans to start non-profit to oversee abuse database and reforms
Nashville, Tennessee, US RNS Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention’s abuse reform taskforce announced plans on Monday to launch an independent non-profit to host a database of pastors accused of abuse and to implement other reforms. They still need the money to run it. North Carolina pastor Joshua Wester, chair of the SBC’s Abuse Reform Implementation Task […]
In the US, faith-based organisations are concerned about the immigration policy landscape
United States RNS While congressional Democrats are chiding Republican senators for walking away from a compromise immigration bill that restricts asylum, faith-based agencies that work with refugees and asylum-seekers expressed alarm in recent days about provisions of the bill and the turn that the conversation about immigration has taken. “You’re not going to solve anything […]