Baptist

The Baptist Home and Missouri Baptist University submitted legal responses on Jan. 31 to urge a judge to dismiss motions for summary judgment filed by the Missouri Baptist Convention on Dec. 2. The MBC requested the Court rule in its favor without a trial, claiming its 2016 victory in the case against the Missouri Baptist Foundation should serve as precedent in the cases against the Home and MBU. However, the institutions rebut the MBC’s claim that their cases are “nearly identical” to that of the Foundation’s case.

After a fire destroyed Antioch Baptist Church in Ralls County, Mo., on Dec. 20, pastor Jack Emmite promised the congregation one thing: they would have a place to worship on Christmas Sunday. That place was Smith Funeral Home, which invited Antioch to hold services in their chapel.

After President Donald Trump signed an executive order barring refugees and stopping visa-holders from seven nations, many Baptist leaders quickly criticized the action. Trump’s Jan. 27 order halted the admission of all refugees for 120 days, barred all Syrian refugees indefinitely and blocked all individuals from seven predominately Muslim nations from entering for 90 days. Although Trump claimed national security concerns to justify the order, refugees have been implicated in zero terrorist attacks in the U.S. since the Refugee Act of 1980 and the visa ban does not include any of the nations of the 9/11 hijackers.

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case on church-state issues that originated in Missouri. To learn more about the case, Word&Way editor Brian Kaylor interviewed Holly Hollman, general counsel and associate executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.

One of the most significant U.S. Supreme Court decisions in 2017 could come in a case from Columbia, Mo., concerning the relationship between church and state.

 Here are the ten most read pieces on the Word&Way website in 2016. Thanks for stopping by and we hope to see you around a lot in 2017!

Members of Antioch Baptist Church in Ralls County, Mo., lost their meeting place during the afternoon Dec. 20 when flames engulfed the facility.

The Missouri Baptist Convention filed motions on Dec. 2 asking the Circuit Court of Cole County to issue a ruling for the MBC in lawsuits against The Baptist Home and Missouri Baptist University.

David O. Moore, 95, former chair of the religion department at William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo., died Oct. 28.

As voters in Missouri chose a new slate of statewide elected officials on Nov. 8, they elected a Baptist layman for the state’s second highest office.