News

Hearing arguments by phone, the Supreme Court on May 11 seemed divided over how broadly religious institutions including schools, hospitals and social service centers should be shielded from job discrimination lawsuits by employees.

North Carolina legislators and leading sheriffs want Gov. Roy Cooper to clarify or remove a portion of his executive order that limits how religious services can convene under his eased stay-at-home rules for COVID-19. 

Melissa Rogers, a Baptist expert in church-state issues who previously led White House faith-based efforts, says governments can impose mass gathering bans to temporarily restrict church gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic.

Louisa First Baptist Church Pastor Chuck Price didn't set out to break any records when he committed to doing daily online services when the coronavirus pandemic first arrived.

A multi-denominational coalition of Christian leaders is calling on Congress to allocate upwards of $4 billion in its next coronavirus economic recovery measure to help Americans safely cast their votes in November.

Baptists and other advocates working to prevent predatory lending in Missouri are criticizing a legislative move that could undo local ordinances regulating payday loan institutions. Efforts in Liberty and Springfield are at risk due to a measure now headed to the governor for signature.

In the West Virginia town where Mother’s Day started 112 years ago, there was another first: an online-only audience due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A Southern Baptist congregation in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, sued county officials Thursday (May 7) for restrictions on church services amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The lead attorney in the case, a member of the congregation, also serves as legal counsel for the Missouri Baptist Convention.

While the White House looks ahead to reopening houses of worship, most Americans think in-person religious services should be barred or allowed only with limits during the coronavirus pandemic — and only about a third say that prohibiting in-person services violates religious freedom, a new poll finds.

When 327 delegates met at First Baptist Church in Augusta, Ga., on May 8, 1845, they did more than start a new convention of Baptist churches in the South.