TRUSTEES: ERLC honors Denhollander, Lankford
NASHVILLE (BP)—Trustees of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission approved a leading advocate for sexual abuse survivors and a United States senator as recipients of the entity’s 2019 awards during their annual meeting Sept. 11. The ERLC board unanimously ratified Rachael Denhollander for the Distinguished Service Award and Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma for the Religious Liberty Award. In other actions,...
PPFA forfeits family planning funds for abortion
WASHINGTON (BP)—One of Planned Parenthood’s government revenue streams has officially dried up for now. The Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) confirmed Monday (Aug. 19) it would not abide by the Trump administration’s new rule that prohibits federal family planning funds for organizations that perform, promote or refer for abortions. The decision—which had been expected for weeks and was announced at the...
SBC Annual Meeting resolutions contend for vulnerable, Gospel
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP) — Messengers to the 2019 Southern Baptist Convention advocated for the vulnerable against abortion, sexual abuse and religious persecution in approving 13 resolutions Wednesday (June 12). The resolutions also addressed a variety of other noteworthy issues in the convention and the world, including local church autonomy, same-sex attraction, justice, women in the military draft and gene editing. On abortion,...
Panelists assess SBC on sexual abuse
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP) — Speakers at a panel on sexual abuse in Southern Baptist churches shared Monday night (June 10) their assessment of where the convention and its cooperating congregations stand regarding an increasingly obvious problem in the country’s largest Protestant denomination. More than 1,250 people registered for “Sexual Abuse and the Southern Baptist Convention,” a conversation co-hosted by the...
Missouri enacts abortion ban; Louisiana next
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (BP) — Missouri has joined the list of states that have acted in 2019 to protect unborn children early in their development, and Louisiana is poised to do the same. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Southern Baptist, signed into law May 24 a bill that prohibits abortion after eight weeks of gestation. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards — rejecting the abortion-rights allegiance of his Democratic Party —...
