No toxicity in white powder found at U.S. House Speaker Johnson’s local church
BENTON, La. (BP) – An envelope with a suspicious white powder on it found at the Louisiana church membership of U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson revealed no toxicity in field tests, the FBI said Feb. 19.
‘We are not enemies, but friends,’ Biden tells diverse body at prayer event
WASHINGTON( BP) – President Joe Biden encouraged unity amid diversity at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington Feb. 1, evoking the sentiment of Abraham Lincoln at one of the most divisive moments in American history.
Radio preacher Alistair Begg won’t back down from advice to attend LGBTQ wedding
(RNS) — For the past few weeks, Alistair Begg, pastor of Parkside Church in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and host of the “Truth for Life” radio program, has been caught in what he calls “a storm in a teacup” over advice he gave about attending an LGBTQ wedding.
Most adults cite MLK’s ‘positive impact’ ahead of 95th birthday, Pew finds
CHARLESTON, S.C. (BP) -- Charleston pastor Marshall Blalock listened again to Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1961 remarks at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where “his perspective was not always appreciated at the level we would today.”
EXPLAINER: Top policy issues to watch in 2024
we enter 2024, the complex political landscape in the United States, marked by division and a struggling Congress, presents unique challenges and opportunities for Christian engagement in public policy.
One-fourth of U.S. United Methodist churches have left. What happens now?
A quarter of U.S. congregations in the United Methodist Church have received permission to leave the denomination during a five-year window, closing this month, that authorized departures for congregations over disputes involving the church’s LGBTQ-related policies.
Exoneration points to need for accuracy in criminal justice
SAN ANTONIO (BP) – One year ago today (Nov. 17), Raymond Flanks was exonerated of a 1983 murder in New Orleans and was released from prison after nearly 39 years. He serves as an example of the need for criminal justice reform that reflects biblical justice, a Southern Baptist attorney said.
Mississippi pastor charged with child exploitation
OLIVE BRANCH, Miss. (BP) – A Mississippi pastor was arrested earlier this month on charges of child exploitation. Kyle Hilleary, 30, was on staff at Cedar View Baptist Church in Olive Branch, Miss. He also taught at a nearby Christian school.
Jewish students on campus feel threatened, scared amid antisemitic spike
(RNS) — After hundreds of students at the University of California, Berkeley, staged a walkout last week to protest Israel’s military strikes in Gaza, Daniel Solomon, a graduate teaching assistant at the school, made a snap decision: Instead of the usual location near Sproul Hall, within earshot of pro-Palestinian groups’ chants, he moved his class’s meeting place to Berkeley’s chapter of Hillel, the national Jewish campus organization.
Southern Baptist Mike Johnson elected speaker of U.S. House
WASHINGTON – The newly elected speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives is a Southern Baptist who has served as a trustee of the SBC’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) was elected to the speakership on Wednesday.
