American Baptists Confront Past and Present Injustices
This issue of A Public Witness treks to the Cornhusker State to consider a lost scroll that gained widespread news coverage and a denominational gathering that didn’t.
A Volunteer Finds the Holy Grail of Abolitionist-Era Baptist Documents in Massachusetts
The resolution shines a spotlight on a critical moment in the history of the Baptist church, signed two years after the issue of slavery prompted southern Baptists to split from northern Baptists and form the SBC.
Vote To Bar Churches With Women Pastors Fails Again at SBC Meeting
A vote to abolish the SBC’s public policy arm, known as the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, also failed on Wednesday afternoon.
Southern Baptist Delegates at National Meeting Overwhelmingly Call for Banning Same-Sex Marriage
Casting a pall over the gathering is the recent death of one of the most high-profile whistleblowers in the Southern Baptists’ scandal of sexual abuse.
Southern Baptists Target Porn, Sports Betting, Same-Sex Marriage, and ‘Willful Childlessness’
The Southern Baptist Convention meeting this week in Dallas will also consider a proposed ban on churches with women pastors.
Gareld Duane Rollins, Whose Lawsuit Sparked a Southern Baptist Abuse Reckoning, Has Died
Rollins, who had long suffered from health issues, accused SBC leader and GOP activist Paul Pressler of years of abuse.
Don’t Shut Down the ERLC, Say Former SBC Presidents in Open Letter
A group of prominent SBC leaders say the denomination's public policy arm still matters.
With a Massive Ark and Museum, He Spreads Creationism a Century After Scopes Trial. He’s Not Alone
Ken Ham, founder and CEO of Answers in Genesis which opened the Ark Encounter in 2016, wants to succeed where he believes William Jennings Bryan failed.
Can the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission Survive Trump 2.0?
Years of controversy during the Trump era have some Southern Baptists arguing that the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission is more trouble than it is worth.
SBC Membership Drops to Its Lowest Number in 50 Years. But Baptisms Are on the Rise.
The Southern Baptist Convention lost 259,090 members in 2024 — the 18th consecutive year of membership decline — according to the denomination’s Annual Church Profile report, released Wednesday.