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☆ I.V.F. Threats in Alabama Drive Clinics to Ship Out Embryos
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-12 | by ( Azeen Ghorayshi | Sarah Kliff | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

An emerging movement against in vitro fertilization is driving some doctors and patients in red states to move or destroy frozen embryos. The embryo migration is most striking in Alabama, where the State Supreme Court ruled in February that embryos were “unborn children.” Since then, at least four of Alabama’s seven fertility clinics have hired biotech companies to move the cells elsewhere. A fifth clinic is working with a doctor in New York to discard embryos because of concerns about the legality of doing so in Alabama. Since the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, 14 states have passed total or near total abortion bans. And the Southern Baptists, the country’s largest Protestant denomination, voted in June to oppose I.V.F., calling for the protection of “frozen embryonic human beings.”

Persons: Roe, Wade Organizations: Baptists, I.V.F Locations: Alabama, New York

☆ Why Scandals Are Hurting Organized Religion - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-31 | by ( David French | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +6 min

Don’t Tell My Friends, But… is a seriesin which we asked Times columnistswhateveryone else is wrong about. The two concepts are so distinct within Christianity that they have different names — orthodoxy (right belief) and orthopraxy (right conduct). Right conduct should flow from right belief. The person who prioritizes orthodoxy says, “Hear my voice.” The person who prioritizes orthopraxy says, “Watch my life,” and the competing emphases can play out in concrete political ways. By contrast, the person who prioritizes orthopraxy has the opposite inclination.

Persons: Let’s, sears, ”, Donald Trump, They’re, orthopraxy, Robert Morris, United States —, Morris, Sybil Jordan Hampton, wouldn’t, Russell Moore’s, Moore, It’s, Paul Organizations: Southern Baptist Convention, Gateway, Evangelical America Locations: Southern, orthopraxy, Christianity, United States, Louisiana, Kentucky, Little Rock, Ireland

☆ This fertility clinic is trying to democratize IVF, just as some groups are condemning it
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-21 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

New York CNN —Since February, when Alabama’s Supreme Court declared frozen embryos are legally considered children, fertility clinics around the country have been weighing the implications of a political movement that’s suddenly turned hostile toward IVF. It could also threaten growth in the booming IVF market, which last year brought in an estimated $8 billion in revenue. IVF also took center stage last week at the Southern Baptist Convention, where church leaders effectively condemned the practice. I have never seen any religious or government guardrail ever stop fertility patients. I’m a former fertility patient, and no one was going to tell me no — I was going to do whatever it took to have the family I always dreamed about.

Persons: that’s, Nightcap, Gina Bartasi, It’s, I’m, Kindbody, Gina Bartasi Kindbody, —, who’s Organizations: New, New York CNN, Alabama, Southern Baptist Convention, Progyny, Southern Baptists, United, Aetna, Blues, Bloomberg Locations: New York, America, Alabama, Cigna, Manhattan

☆ How Baptists and the G.O.P. Took Different Paths on I.V.F.
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-13 | by ( Ruth Graham | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Alabama ruling, which had threatened access to in vitro fertilization and other reproductive services in the state, caught many Americans, including conservatives, off guard. The idea that fertility treatments could be morally and legally questionable rattled many anti-abortion voters who had used such procedures to expand their families. And it further frayed the increasingly tense alliance between the anti-abortion movement and the Republican Party, which saw political peril in going after I.V.F. On Wednesday, the Southern Baptist Convention, the country’s largest Protestant denomination, voted to condemn the use of reproductive technologies like I.V.F. The moment was especially striking given that after the Alabama ruling earlier this year, Republican leaders quickly tried to signal to their base that they supported I.V.F., an extraordinarily popular procedure widely used by Christians and non-Christians alike.

Persons: Andrew T, Walker Organizations: Alabama, Southern Baptist, Republican Party, Southern Baptist Convention, Republican Locations: Kentucky, Alabama, The Alabama, Indianapolis

☆ Southern Baptists Vote to Oppose Use of I.V.F.
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-12 | by ( Ruth Graham | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Southern Baptists, the country’s largest Protestant denomination, voted on Wednesday to oppose the use of in vitro fertilization. The vote was an indication that evangelicals are increasingly open to arguments that equate embryos with human life, and that two years after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, “fetal personhood” may be the next front for the anti-abortion movement. The vote on Wednesday was the first time that attendees at the Southern Baptist meeting have addressed the ethics of in vitro fertilization directly. The resolution proposed on Wednesday called on Southern Baptists “to reaffirm the unconditional value and right to life of every human being, including those in an embryonic stage, and to only utilize reproductive technologies consistent with that affirmation, especially in the number of embryos generated in the I.V.F. process.”It also exhorted them to “advocate for the government to restrain” actions inconsistent with the dignity of “every human being, which necessarily includes frozen embryonic human beings.”

Persons: Roe, Wade, ”, “ Organizations: Southern Baptist Locations: Indianapolis

☆ Issues Affecting Women Take Center Stage as Southern Baptists Hold Annual Meeting
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-11 | by ( Ruth Graham | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Southern Baptists are poised to vote at their annual meeting Tuesday and Wednesday on whether to crack down on women in pastoral leadership and whether to condemn the use of in vitro fertilization, setting up a referendum on the role of women in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination and in American society. With almost 13 million church members across the United States, the Southern Baptist Convention has long been a bellwether for American evangelicalism. Its reliably conservative membership makes it a powerful political force, and its debates have attracted widespread interest from outside pundits and politicians this year. The denomination has experienced the same turmoil over politics and priorities that has divided the conservative movement more broadly in the wake of the 2016 election of Donald J. Trump as president. Mr. Trump recorded a brief message for the “very respected people” gathered at the lunch, which was hosted by the Danbury Institute, a new conservative Christian advocacy group with Southern Baptist ties.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, “, ” Ryan Helfenbein, ” Organizations: Southern Baptist Convention, Liberty University, Danbury Institute, Southern Baptist Locations: United States, Indianapolis

☆ Christian Nationalists Could Put Trump Back in the White House: Expert
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-15 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +19 min

In the US, the immediate crisis is the phenomenon of Donald Trump and the strong conservative Christian support for Trump, which continues to this day. Can you tell me a little bit more about the reasons that you've found why Donald Trump has such a significant base among Christian conservatives? What's interesting is evangelicals have had to learn how to hold their nose and support Trump. There are state-level Christian theocrats who are in some ways implementing as much of an authoritarian reactionary Christian agenda as they can. And when this ferocious backlash begins on the white Christian side, it's very tightly connected to the civil rights era.

Persons: David Gushee, Donald Trump, we're, I'm, it's, I've, you've, Ronald Reagan, Reagan, Trump, Christian, they're, It's, Robustly, he's, Vladimir Putin, George W, Bush, Mike Pence, Pence, theocrats, there's, William Barber, Jim Crow, Barack Obama Organizations: Mercer University, GOP, Trump, Republican Party, House, Officially, Christian, Black Locations: America, United States, England, Russia, West, Christianity

☆ Rosalynn Carter death: former first lady and wife of Jimmy Carter, passes away at 96
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-19 | by ( Keith Allen | Kate Andersen Brower | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +29 min

Rosalynn Carter passed away peacefully with family by her side at her home in Plains, Georgia, the center said in a statement. It was likely that Eleanor Rosalynn Smith would cross paths with Jimmy Carter in their small hometown of Plains, Georgia. Former first lady Rosalynn Carter poses for a portrait in New York in 2011. Atlanta Journal-Constitution/AP Jimmy Carter, then a Georgia state senator, hugs his wife at his campaign headquarters in Atlanta in 1966. The Carter CenterRosalynn and Jimmy Carter had four children, 12 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.

Persons: CNN — Rosalynn Carter, Rosalynn Carter, “ Rosalynn, Jimmy Carter, “, ”, Ronald Reagan, Rosalynn, Jill Biden, ” Jimmy Carter, Jason, Amy, Dan Farrell, Carter, ” Jill Biden, Joe Biden, “ They’re, George W, Bush, Laura Bush, She’s, Jill Stuckey, Carters, Bill Clinton, Jake Tapper, CNN’s, Eleanor Rosalynn Smith, ” Rosalynn, Ruth, Jimmy, Jimmy wasn’t, John William, “ Jack ”, James Earl, Chip ”, Donnel Jeffrey, “ Jeff ”, Amy Lynn, Stuart Eizenstat, Donald Trump, Melania, ” Trump, Plains Carter, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Nixon’s, Mary Matise, Eleanor Roosevelt, Steven Hochman, Mrs, ” Hochman, ’ ”, Michelle Obama, ” Michelle Obama, ’, Georgia’s, Nikki Kahn, Horace Cort, Mikki Ansin, Jeff, Jack, Barbara Walters, Richard Howard, Suzanne Vlamis, Diana Walker, Joan Mondale, Walter Mondale, Muriel Humphrey, Hubert Humphrey, Ruth Carter Stapleton, Jimmy Carter's, Wally McNamee, Corbis, Ron Galella, Bromberger Hoover, Jay Leno, Alice S, Tami Chappell, Charlie Neibergall, Laura Rauch, Carolyn Kaster, Sebastian Scheiner, Barack Obama's, Bill Clark, John Bazemore, Amy Davis, Saul Loeb, Errol, Jimmy's, Branden Camp, Caroline Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Reagan, David McNew, Matt McClain, Adam Schultz, The New York Times Adam Schultz, White, Erin Schaff, Michael S, Williamson, Theodore Roosevelt’s, ‘, Jimmy ’, Welfare Joe Califano, Jerry Rafshoon, Carter’s, Joe Califano, Massachusetts Sen, Ted Kennedy, Rafshoon, Camp David, David, Zbigniew Brzezinski, ” Brzezinski, Harry, Bess Truman, Lady Rosalynn Carter, Kate Andersen Brower, CNN’s Stephen Collinson, Sam Fossum, Gabe Cohen Organizations: CNN, Carter, House, The Carter, Naval, Americana, NY, White, Maranatha Baptist Church, Sunday, Carter Institute for Caregiving, Georgia Southwestern State University, Southern Baptists, Naval Academy, Georgia, Atlanta, Brigade, Jimmy, Mental Health, Washington Post, Hulton, Disney, Bettmann, Mental Health Systems, Harlem Globetrotters, Getty, White House, Democratic National Convention, Toronto, Presidential, Humanity, Baltimore Sun, Tribune, Service, Capitol, Aging, NBA, The New York Times, Department of Justice, Health, Education, Welfare, Democratic, American, Human, Camp, Habitat, U.S Locations: Plains , Georgia, Israel, Egypt, Iran, Atlanta, Norfolk, Cuba, Sudan, North Korea, Guinea, mater, Georgia, Plains, ”, Hawaii, New London , Connecticut, Schenectady , New York, Washington, Iowa, Florida, Americus , Georgia, New York, Brazil, Dubuque , Iowa, Waterloo , Iowa, San Francisco, Ashkelon, Baltimore, Annapolis , Maryland, Rosalynn, North Carolina, White, Central, South America, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Panama, Maryland, Tehran, United States

☆ Southern Baptist Leaders Quietly Seek Shield From Abuse Suits
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( Ruth Graham | More About Ruth Graham | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For six months, almost no one took notice of the brief filed quietly by Southern Baptists in a case winding its way to the Kentucky Supreme Court. The woman later sued several parties, including the Louisville Police Department, saying they knew about the abuse and had a duty to report it. None of it appeared to have anything to do with the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. The brief, reported by The Louisville Courier-Journal in October, landed like a bombshell in Southern Baptist circles. The brief, abuse survivors and those critical of the church say, offers the first clear look at the church’s true position on whether its leaders can be held accountable for abuse.

Persons: “, ” Organizations: Southern Baptists, Kentucky Supreme, Louisville Police Department, Southern Baptist Convention, The Louisville Courier, Southern Baptist Locations: Kentucky, Southern

Evangelical Christian conservatives have long had allies in top Republican leadership in Congress. Religious conservatives cheered Johnson's election Wednesday, after which he brought his Bible to the rostrum before taking the oath of office. “Someone asked me today in the media, ‘People are curious, what does Mike Johnson think about any issue?’” Johnson said Thursday in a Fox News interview. One might call him a happy warrior.”Progressive faith leaders expressed alarm at Johnson‘s election, and his remarks on Wednesday evoking the Bible as saying authorities are chosen by God. He still voted with most House Republicans to overturn Biden's victories in two states.

Persons: Mike Johnson, Johnson's, “, ’ ” Johnson, Donald Trump’s, Paul Raushenbush, Paul Ryan, John Boehner, Newt Gingrich, Johnson, Kevin McCarthy, McCarthy, Matt Gaetz, Brent Leatherwood, Leatherwood, what's, — Johnson, Kristen Waggoner, Albert Mohler, Johnson’s speakership, ”, ” Mohler, Fea, ” Raushenbush, Nathan Empsall, Empsall, Joe Biden's, Amanda Tyler, Johnson “, ” Tyler, David Crary, Holly Meyer Organizations: Fox, Interfaith Alliance, Southern Baptist, Southern, Liberty University, Southern Baptist Convention, Liberty Commission, Southern Baptists, Defending, ADF, Shreveport Times, U.S, Supreme, Freedom Guard, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Messiah University, Christian, Fea, Faithful, Republicans, Capitol, Baptist, Religious Liberty, Lilly Endowment Inc, AP Locations: Southern, Virginia, Louisiana, Shreveport, Kentucky, Louisville , Kentucky, Pennsylvania, United States, Israel, America, Faithful America

☆ Southern Baptist Convention Leader Resigns Over False Résumé
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( Ruth Graham | More About Ruth Graham | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

is the nation’s largest Protestant denomination and serves as a bellwether for priorities among American evangelicals. The executive committee, which has more than 80 members, conducts business for the denomination between its annual meetings. His ascension even as an interim leader was touted as a historic milestone for the 178-year-old denomination, which was founded as a defender of slavery. Mr. McLaurin is the committee’s third leader in a row to step down in tumultuous circumstances. At a meeting in Dallas this spring, the executive committee rejected its own search committee’s recommendation for the next leader, assembling a new search committee whose work is ongoing.

Persons: McLaurin, Ronnie Floyd, Frank Page, ”, “ It’s, Lord Jesus Christ, McLaurin’s, Robertson, committee’s Organizations: Southern Locations: Dallas, Nashville

☆ Opinion | Religious Controversies on Many Fronts in the U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-24 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Women have always been at the heart of church ministry. They establish prayer groups, Bible study circles and women’s ministries outside the classroom to foster spiritual growth and strengthen our communities. And women are vital to our parishes’ ministries of charity and service, providing comfort to those who are sick, homeless or in need. The Southern Baptist Convention is tremendously out of step with what so many Christians — especially young Christians — are calling for. The question of women in ministry is a conversation for the whole church: men, women and church leaders.

Persons: — Organizations: Southern Baptist Convention, Catholic Church Locations: Rome

☆ Southern Baptists’ Fight Over Female Leaders Shows Power of Insurgent Right
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Elizabeth Dias | Ruth Graham | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Two summers ago, an insurgent group of ultraconservative Southern Baptists branded themselves as pirates, vowing to “take the ship” of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination and steer it farther to the right on issues like sexuality and race. They were determined to halt what they saw as rising liberalism and drift from biblical truth. Many were outraged that one of their most prominent churches had ordained three women. Now, the ultraconservatives are seizing power, and the ship is beginning to turn. But it also stems from growing anxieties many evangelicals have about what they see as swiftly changing norms around gender and sexuality in America.

Organizations: Southern Baptists Locations: New Orleans, America

☆ Southern Baptists Resoundingly Reject Women Pastors
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Francis X. Rocca | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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Persons: Dow Jones, 6af4de3c

☆ Southern Baptists Vote to Keep Out Churches With Female Pastors
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Ruth Graham | Elizabeth Dias | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The ousted churches will continue to function as churches, but lose their association with the denomination and the ability to participate in its programs, including its robust missionary and disaster relief programs. Like many larger Southern Baptist churches, Saddleback does not include the word “Baptist” in its name, and for most of its history it has not emphasized the connection. Three other churches that were expelled in February for having female pastors chose not to appeal the decision. Kristan Pounders, 30, from Big Level Baptist Church in Wiggins, Miss. said she thought the pastors appealing the expulsions had well-presented arguments, but they were not in agreement with what Southern Baptists believe.

Persons: Minnie R, McGee Washington, Timothy’s, Baltimore —, Deborah, Huldah, Priscilla, Philip, ” Organizations: Timothy’s Christian Baptist Church, Starbucks, Big, Baptist Church Locations: Southern, Saddleback, ‚ St, Baltimore, Wiggins, Miss

☆ Southern Baptists Move to Purge Churches With Female Pastors
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Elizabeth Dias | Ruth Graham | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The crackdown comes at a moment when the country is broadly reexamining women’s rights, a year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. As the convention got underway Monday in New Orleans, Mike Law, a Virginia pastor, pushed for his proposed amendment to the S.B.C. The amendment would need to be passed twice, in consecutive years, to go into effect. Some Southern Baptists view female leaders as “as an early harbinger of a raft of other changes,” said Joshua Abbotoy, whose church left the denomination last year because of concerns about a liberal drift. Mr. Abbotoy is the managing director of New Founding, a conservative organization whose journal published an analysis over the weekend estimating that there were more than 1,800 female pastors serving in S.B.C.

Persons: Roe, Wade, ’, Mike Law, ”, Joshua Abbotoy, Abbotoy Organizations: Southern Baptists, Southern Baptist, Church, New Locations: New Orleans, Virginia, Southern, S.B.C

☆ What’s at Stake as Southern Baptists Move to Bar Women Pastors
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Colbi Edmonds | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The Southern Baptist Convention, a denomination that is often a bellwether for evangelical America, has expelled five churches from the convention this year over their appointment of women as pastors. The move to enforce a strict ban against women in church leadership comes as some evangelicals fear a liberal drift in their congregations and a departure from Scripture. On Tuesday, two of those churches, Fern Creek Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., and Saddleback Church in Southern California, appealed their expulsions before thousands of delegates at the annual convention in New Orleans. At the same time, ultraconservatives were moving to amend the S.B.C. constitution to further restrict the role of women in leadership, by stating that a church could be Southern Baptist only if it “does not affirm, appoint or employ a woman as a pastor of any kind.”

Organizations: Southern Baptist Convention, Fern Creek Baptist, Saddleback Church, Southern Baptist Locations: America, Fern Creek, Fern Creek Baptist Church, Louisville, Ky, Southern California, New Orleans, Southern

☆ Charles Stanley, Atlanta Pastor Who Preached to the World, Dies at 90
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Richard Sandomir | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Charles Stanley, an influential Baptist pastor who for more than 50 years preached a conservative message from his Atlanta megachurch, through an extensive network of television and radio stations, and in many books, died on Tuesday at his home in Atlanta. In Touch Ministries, Dr. Stanley’s nonprofit organization, announced his death but did not state a cause. As the senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Atlanta, Dr. Stanley was known as one of the leading American preachers of his time, alongside figures like the Rev. He was also a board member of the Moral Majority, the right-wing religious organization, and a close friend of its founder, the Rev. “Evangelicals just loved him,” Barry Hankins, a professor of history at Baylor University who, with Thomas Kidd, wrote “Baptists in America” (2015), said in a phone interview.

☆ Southern Baptists Expel Saddleback Church Over Female Pastor
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Adolfo Flores | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Saddleback Church lead Pastor Andy Wood and his wife, Stacie Wood, meet with a congregant in Lake Forest, Calif. The Southern Baptist Convention on Tuesday expelled Saddleback Church, the California megachurch founded by influential evangelical pastor Rick Warren, and four other churches from the denomination because they had female pastors. The decision to remove or “disfellowship” the churches came after the convention’s executive committee determined that the five churches were “not in friendly cooperation” with the denomination, said Jared Wellman, executive committee chairman, in a statement.

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