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Poised for progress

The election of an African-American president to an organization with its roots in slavery is being heralded as a milestone in racial reform. The Southern Baptists broke off from Northern Baptists in 1845 in support of slavery. Having supported Jim Crow and resisted integration for more than a century, the organization officially apologized in 1995. […]

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Messianic nickname

Instead, the panel decided that churches preferring a new name to the one associated with the SBC’s founding as a pro-slavery church (for which they promptly apologized in 1995) could opt for a nickname. The committee said that the nickname “Great Commission Baptists” could be added as a descriptor. The “great commission” is the name […]

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Romney and religion

“I think it’s very possible Romney’s faith will be an issue,” said Charles Kimball, director of the University of Oklahoma’s religious studies program. “When you consider that the Southern Baptist Convention has a program for ‘interfaith witness’ directed at Mormons, it points out that they don’t consider them part of the same Christian faith. “In […]

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‘Something has to change’

The database would include people credibly accused or convicted of child sexual abuse who have worked in SBC churches, of which his church is a part. In the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State University, Burleson (pictured) and many other Southern Baptists have capitalized on the moment to get the word out. […]

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