SBC convention; Bin Laden study groups; Faith and Politics Institute

In Tuesday’s RNS report Senior Correspondent Adelle M. Banks reports from the Southern Baptist Convention in Greensboro, N.C.: Southern Baptists opened their two-day annual meeting Tuesday (June 13), prepared to elect their next president in a contested race that reflects other divides within the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. Controlled by conservatives for more than two […]

In Tuesday’s RNS report Senior Correspondent Adelle M. Banks reports from the Southern Baptist Convention in Greensboro, N.C.: Southern Baptists opened their two-day annual meeting Tuesday (June 13), prepared to elect their next president in a contested race that reflects other divides within the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. Controlled by conservatives for more than two decades, the religious body is now wrestling with internal problems, reflected in suggestions from the convention floor about management of its mission boards. SBC Executive Committee President Morris Chapman urged his fellow Baptists to not let minor divisions keep them from a focus on evangelism. “We have to ask ourselves: Are we unprepared to saturate the Earth with the gospel? … I appeal to every Southern Baptist pastor: Major on the major in our churches.”

Amy Green reports on professors who have formed study groups focused on efforts to understand Osama bin Laden: For nearly a year at Vanderbilt University, a group of professors of religion, politics and history have gathered as a critical audience to Osama bin Laden, a man who looms larger than perhaps any other in our country and yet who remains a mystery to many Americans. The professors emphasize they do not sympathize with the al-Qaida leader, nor do they want to add academic weight to his teachings. They merely want to understand the man, his purpose and the source of his influence and hatred. “It’s not like you can turn on the television and hear a 10-minute press release from al-Qaida,” said Richard McGregor, an Islamic studies assistant professor who helped start the group.

Piet Levy looks at a group that says the travel it funds for congressmen is agenda-free: Despite perceptions, not all of the congressmen traveling at the expense of private interest groups get treated to rounds of golf and bottles of champagne. Take the approach of the Faith and Politics Institute, a self-described nonpartisan, interfaith organization that helps “public officials stay in touch with their faith and deeper values as they shape public policy.” Since 1991, the institute has offered prayer retreats and occasions for reflection for politicians of both parties, primarily on visits to historical sites of racial reconciliation like Birmingham, Ala., and Farmville, Va. The institute insists no specific policy is pushed.


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