Jerry Pierce

HOUSTON (BP)--Several Houston-area Southern Baptist pastors are among the signers of a declaration calling for secure borders and a compassionate and just overhaul of the federal immigration system.

AUSTIN, Texas (BP)--The Texas State Board of Education's vote to adopt changes to social studies curricula has supporters affirming an academic balance brought to left-leaning subject matter, while critics are crying foul over alleged downplaying of church-state separation ...

GRAPEVINE, Texas (BP)–In three resolutions released May 17, the executive committee of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s executive board affirmed the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force’s final report, urging its adoption by Southern Baptists. In the first of the resolutions, the committee affirmed the GCRTF report as “thoroughly compatible with the Southern Baptists of […]

GRAPEVINE, Texas (BP)--Despite news reports to the contrary, Texas students will be required to learn about Thomas Jefferson and constitutional religious freedom guarantees, say two prominent members of the Texas State Board of Education.       Additionally, "Nowhere in our social studies curriculum standards is America referred to as a Christian nation," said board chairman Gail Lowe, a Republican from Lampasas, Texas, contrary to claims in a March 22 letter to textbook publishers by the liberal Interfaith Alliance.       In interviews with the Southern Baptist TEXAN about new social studies standards for Texas public schools, Lowe and Don McLeroy, the immediate past board chairman, said widely circulated news reports contained numerous inaccuracies, including claims that Thomas Jefferson was left out of the standards, that First Amendment religious freedom guarantees were omitted because conservative board members reject the concept of church-state separation, and that religious dogma had crept into the standards.       The board meeting, held March 10-12 in Austin, made national and international news, chiefly because Texas buys or distributes about 48 million textbooks annually, influencing textbook content for most other states.       The Guardian newspaper of London claimed on its blog that the board was "rewriting history," an assertion of the Texas Freedom Network, which bills itself a "mainstream voice to counter the religious right."

GRAPEVINE, Texas (BP)--The Texas State Board of Education's preliminary passage of new social studies standards has created a firestorm of criticism, with some media reports repeating claims that they are full of revisionist history motivated by a right-wing agenda that denies historic constitutional boundaries ...

AUSTIN, Texas (BP)–The Texas State Board of Education turned back some controversial revisions to social studies standards in meetings March 10-12, retaining requirements that students learn about historical notables such as Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison and adding language about significant political ideas, including the “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” cited in the Declaration […]

TYLER, Texas (BP)–Early Wednesday saw two additional church fires in East Texas, bringing to nine the number of suspected arsons to churches in the region since Jan. 1. Federal investigators are working with state and local authorities in seeking clues to the string of blazes in Smith, Van Zandt and Henderson counties. According to the […]

TYLER, Texas (BP)–The number of suspicious fires at churches in East Texas has climbed to seven as federal investigators join state and local authorities in seeking clues to two blazes in Tyler, Texas. The latest fires were at the Tyland Baptist Church and the First Church of Christ, Scientist, both in Tyler. Tyland is the […]

ATHENS, Texas (BP)–A Southern Baptist church was one of two churches in the Athens, Texas, area heavily damaged by what investigators believe were arson fires set in the early morning hours Jan. 12, marking the third such church fire in a week near the East Texas city. Local authorities are being aided in their investigation […]

GRAPEVINE, Texas (BP)–“Three Views on the Millennium and Beyond,” a book in Zondervan’s popular Counterpoints series, provides a useful dialogue on the major millennial positions of Christian eschatology. Darrell Bock of Dallas Theological Seminary edited the decade-old book, which features proponents of postmillennialism, amillennialism and premillennialism by Kenneth Gentry, Robert Strimple and Craig Blaising with […]