Faith groups split over bill to protect same-sex marriage
November 16, 2022 GMTAmong U.S. faith leaders and denominations, there are sharp differences over the bill advancing in the Senate that would protect same-sex and interracial marriages in federal law.
The measure, a high priority for congressional Democrats, won a key test vote Wednesday when 12 Senate Republicans joined all Democrats to forward the bill for a final vote in the coming days.
Amid crises, rural roots anchor Southern Baptists’ president
October 3, 2022 GMTFARMERSVILLE, Texas (AP) — On the first Saturday of fall, a sweating Bart Barber trekked across a weedy pasture in search of Bully Graham, the would-be patriarch of the rural Baptist pastor’s fledgling cattle herd.
LGBTQ-friendly church OK with getting Southern Baptist boot
September 27, 2022 GMTWhen her teenage daughter came out as a lesbian several years ago, one of the first things Caroline Joyce did was to Google, “Can you be gay and be a Christian?”
The family was attending a conservative Southern Baptist church in the Greensboro, North Carolina, area that considered homosexual activity to be sinful.
Southern Baptists cut ties with LGBTQ-friendly church
September 21, 2022 GMTThe Southern Baptist Convention's top administrative body voted to cut ties with two congregations on Tuesday — an LGBTQ-friendly church in North Carolina that had itself quit the denomination decades ago and a New Jersey congregation it cited for “alleged discriminatory behavior.”
Southern Baptists say denomination faces DOJ investigation
August 12, 2022 GMTNASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention said Friday that several of the denomination's major entities are under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice in the wake of its multiple problems related to clergy sex abuse.
Senator in 2010 deposition: 13-year-olds can consent to sex
June 25, 2022 GMTOKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Before he became a leading voice for conservative causes on Capitol Hill, U.S. Senator James Lankford spent more than a decade as the director of youth programming at the Falls Creek Baptist Conference Center, a sprawling campground about 80 miles south of Oklahoma City that attracts more than 50,000 campers in grades six through 12 each year.
From joy to anger, faith leaders react to Roe’s reversal
June 24, 2022 GMTReligious Americans are deeply divided in their views on abortion, and reactions from faith leaders ranged from elation to anger after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that made abortion legal nationwide.
New SBC President commits to move sex abuse reforms forward
June 16, 2022 GMTANAHEIM, California (AP) — The new president of the Southern Baptist Convention said Wednesday he will accelerate sex abuse reforms in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.
Texas pastor Bart Barber elected Southern Baptist president
June 15, 2022 GMTANAHEIM, California (AP) — Bart Barber is a staunch Southern Baptist conservative who would welcome bans on abortion, opposes critical race theory and believes only men should serve as pastors.
Yet Barber, elected Tuesday as the new president of the Southern Baptist Convention, says he has a track record of dialogue with those who disagree on those and other issues.
Southern Baptists agree to keep list of accused sex abusers
June 15, 2022 GMTANAHEIM, California (AP) — The Southern Baptist Convention voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to create a way to track pastors and other church workers credibly accused of sex abuse and launch a new task force to oversee further reforms in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.
Southern Baptists who backed open abuse review win key roles
June 13, 2022 GMTANAHEIM, California (AP) — The newly elected leaders of a top Southern Baptist Convention committee had all supported a more transparent investigation into allegations the denomination mishandled sex abuse reports and mistreated survivors.
#ChurchToo revelations growing, years after movement began
June 12, 2022 GMTA withering report on sexual abuse and cover-up in the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S.
Southern Baptist leaders release secret accused abuser list
May 27, 2022 GMTIn response to an explosive investigation, top Southern Baptists have released a previously secret list of hundreds of pastors and other church-affiliated personnel accused of sexual abuse.
The 205-page database was made public late Thursday.
Top Southern Baptists plan to release secret list of abusers
May 25, 2022 GMTTop administrative leaders for the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in America, said Tuesday that they will release a secret list of hundreds of pastors and other church-affiliated personnel accused of sexual abuse.
Southern Baptists face push for public list of sex abusers
May 24, 2022 GMTA blistering report on the Southern Baptist Convention’s mishandling of sex abuse allegations is raising the prospect that the denomination, for the first time, will create a publicly accessible database of pastors and other church personnel known to be abusers.
Report: Top Southern Baptists stonewalled sex abuse victims
May 23, 2022 GMTThe Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee — and thousands of its rank-and-file members — now have opportunities to address a scathing investigative report that says top SBC leaders stonewalled and denigrated survivors of clergy sex abuse over two decades while seeking to protect their own reputations.
Southern Baptist Convention president won’t seek 2nd term
March 2, 2022 GMTEd Litton, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, announced Tuesday he will break with tradition and not seek a second term in the top convention role.
Southern Baptist leaders apologize to sex abuse survivor
February 23, 2022 GMTThe Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee has offered a public apology and a confidential monetary settlement to sexual abuse survivor Jennifer Lyell, who was mischaracterized by the denomination’s in-house news service when she decided to go public with her story in March 2019.
Tenn. pastor, first African American, named to key SBC post
February 1, 2022 GMTNASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee pastor Willie McLaurin has been named interim president and CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee, becoming the first African American to lead one of the denomination's ministry entities in its more than 175-year history.
Southern Baptist leader resigns amid rifts over sex abuse
October 15, 2021 GMTNASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A top Southern Baptist Convention administrator is resigning amid internal rifts over how to handle an investigation into the SBC's response to sexual abuse, a decision that underscores the broader ongoing turmoil in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.
Southern Baptist panel to open legal records for abuse probe
October 5, 2021 GMTA top committee of the Southern Baptist Convention agreed Tuesday to open up legally protected records to investigators who will look into how it handled, or mishandled, cases of sexual abuse within the nation's largest Protestant denomination over the past two decades.
Southern Baptists press for sex abuse review to advance
October 1, 2021 GMTNASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A top Southern Baptist Convention committee is facing mounting pressure from within the denomination to move forward without further delay an investigation into how it handled sexual abuse allegations.
Top Southern Baptist committee funds sex abuse probe
September 22, 2021 GMTNASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) — A top Southern Baptist Convention committee agreed Tuesday to fund a third-party investigation into its handling of sexual abuse allegations but held off on waiving its attorney-client privilege for the probe, delaying for the future a decision seen as a key demand of the thousands of Southern Baptists who set the review in motion.
Probe of Southern Baptist sex abuse response moves forward
September 19, 2021 GMTNASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) — The Rev. Marshall Blalock feels the weight of his new responsibility.
The South Carolina pastor serves as vice chair of a recently formed Southern Baptist Convention task force charged with overseeing an investigation into how a top denominational committee handled sex abuse allegations, a review that comes years into the SBC's public reckoning with the scandal.
Access, travel rules influence missionary vaccine policies
September 18, 2021 GMTCOVID-19 vaccine refusal rates may be high among white evangelical Christians, but the International Mission Board — which deploys thousands of missionaries — is not hesitant about the shot.
The global agency of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest evangelical Protestant denomination in the U.S., announced this month it is requiring vaccinations for missionaries they're sending into the field amid the pandemic.
Southern Baptist leader wants to ‘iron out our differences’
June 23, 2021 GMT(RNS) — The Southern Baptist Convention has trouble with a capital T — and that stands for trust.
The lack of trust was palpable during the SBC’s recent annual meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, where local church messengers often overruled Baptist leaders from the meeting floor.
Southern Baptists vote to probe leaders’ sex abuse response
June 16, 2021 GMTNASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Delegates at the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to create a task force to oversee an independent investigation into the denomination's handling of sexual abuse.
Southern Baptists pick president who worked for racial unity
June 16, 2021 GMTNASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Southern Baptist Convention tamped down a push from the right at its largest meeting in decades on Tuesday, electing a new president who has worked to bridge racial divides in the church and defeating an effort to make an issue of critical race theory.
Southern Baptists quash expanded sex abuse probe, for now
June 14, 2021 GMTNASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee on Monday quashed a push for an independent committee to lead a probe of its handling of sex abuse cases, but the proposal is almost certain to resurface when the nation's largest denomination holds its biggest and most contentious annual meeting in decades.
Southern Baptists meet amid controversy over leaked letters
June 13, 2021 GMTNASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — As Southern Baptists prepare for their biggest annual meeting in more than a quarter-century, accusations that leaders have shielded churches from claims of sexual abuse and simmering tensions around race threaten to once again mire the nation’s largest Protestant denomination in a conflict that can look more political than theological.
Racial tensions simmer as Southern Baptists hold key meeting
June 11, 2021 GMTNASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Race-related tensions within the Southern Baptist Convention are high heading into a national meeting next week. The election of a new SBC president and debate over the concept of systemic racism may prove pivotal for some Black pastors as they decide whether to stay in the denomination or leave.
Secret recordings show Southern Baptist dispute on sex abuse
June 11, 2021 GMTNASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Releases of leaked letters and secret recordings from within the Southern Baptist Convention intensified Thursday as critics sought to show top leaders were slow to address sexual abuse in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination and worried more about its reputation and donations than about victims.
Vaccine skepticism runs deep among white evangelicals in US
April 5, 2021 GMTThe president of the Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest evangelical denomination, posted a photo on Facebook last week of him getting the COVID-19 vaccine...
Growing number of Southern Baptist women question roles
March 24, 2021 GMTEmily Snook is the daughter of a Southern Baptist pastor. She met her husband, also a pastor, while they attended a Southern Baptist university
Yet the 39-year-old Oklahoma woman now finds herself wondering if it’s time to leave the nation's largest Protestant denomination, in part because of practices and attitudes that limit women’s roles.
Southern Baptists oust 2 churches over LGBTQ inclusion
February 24, 2021 GMTThe Southern Baptist Convention’s executive committee voted Tuesday to oust four of its churches, two over policies deemed to be too inclusive of LGBTQ people and two more for employing pastors convicted of sex offenses.
Southern Baptists divided over politics, race, LGBTQ policy
February 20, 2021 GMTDivisions over race, politics, gender and LGBTQ issues are roiling America’s largest Protestant denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, ahead of a meeting of its executive committee next week...
After turbulent 2020, faith in America faces more big issues
December 18, 2020 GMTFor many religious denominations in the United States, there were two shared preoccupations in 2020 beyond the usual matters of faith: How to cope with the coronavirus pandemic and how to respond to tumultuous political events.
Southern Baptists see 13th year of membership decline
June 4, 2020 GMTNASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The nation's largest Protestant denomination is almost 2% smaller than it was in 2018...
Trumps attend music-filled church service on Christmas Eve
December 25, 2019 GMTPALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump attended a music-filled Christmas Eve service at a Southern Baptist Convention-affiliated church before celebrating the holiday with dinner in the ballroom of his private club...
Southern Baptists ready to put spotlight on sex-abuse crisis
September 30, 2019 GMTEntangled in a multifaceted sex-abuse crisis, the Southern Baptist Convention is preparing to host a high-profile conference on the topic that has kindled skepticism even among some of the scheduled speakers...
Southern Baptist leader bemoans abuse crisis, vows action
June 13, 2019 GMTBIRMINGHAM, Alabama (AP) — Sharing a stage with tearful survivors of sex abuse, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention apologized Wednesday for the abuse crisis besetting his denomination and outlined an array of steps to address it...
Southern Baptists combat sex abuse as critics rally
June 12, 2019 GMTBIRMINGHAM, Alabama (AP) — Confronting an unprecedented sex-abuse crisis, delegates at the Southern Baptist Convention's national meeting voted Tuesday to make it easier to expel churches that mishandle abuse cases...
Windows honoring Baptist leader in Texas removed from chapel
May 15, 2019 GMTFORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Stained-glass windows honoring some religious leaders who helped shift the Southern Baptist Convention to a more conservative stance have been removed from a Texas chapel...