Plus: Gay-ordaining American Baptist churches survive ousting vote, Christian-Druid reconciliation comes under attack, and other stories from around the world.
The head of In Touch Ministries and former president of the Southern Baptist Convention announced to his congregation Sunday that he and his wife Anna have divorced. When administrative pastor Gerald Spicer told the church Stanley would stay on as senior pastor, the church responded with a standing ovation. The story makes the front page of today's edition of The Atlanta Constitution.
At the denomination's convention in Salt Lake City Saturday, delegates voted 161-92 to dismiss Seattle First Baptist Church and University Baptist Church, only eight votes shy of a necessary two-thirds majority. The denomination later voted to gradually split the churches off by 2002.
The conference, which several Anglican clergy are attending, will feature joint Christian and pagan services. "This type of event gives them credibility, which they ought not to have," says Michael Cole, an honorary canon of Chelmsford Cathedral. "It becomes dangerous if it gives the impression that it is okay for Christians to become involved in such things."
At least 30 attendees of a four-day festival in Machlipatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India, were injured when a crude but powerful bomb exploded. Police have detained at least five suspects. It's the first attack on a Christian meeting in the Indian state, says the BBC.
The Cardinal Newman Society, based in Falls Church, Virginia, has issued a report criticizing several Catholic colleges for inviting "inappropriate" speakers to deliver commencement addresses. Most of the speaker criticized, including Jesse Jackson, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Attorney General Janet Reno, and actor Henry Winkler, were criticized for their prochoice stances on abortion.
While we pray for peace, we need moral clarity about this war.
A Christian reconciliation group in Israel and Palestine warned that war would come. Now the war threatens their relevance.العربيةFrançais
Helping marine biodiversity flourish is a means of participating in God’s work, says an Indonesian theologian.
