Baptist Press NASHVILLE — When the U.S. government relinquishes control of a nonprofit organization that oversees Internet domain names, a California Baptist University software engineering professor says, the potential for religious liberty violations could increase. Since 1998, the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has coordinated and administered Internet domain names, with oversight from the U.S. Department of Commerce. But as of Oct. 1, when the government’s contract

Baptist Press NASHVILLE — An 8-year-old girl who lives as a transgender boy appeared on the Sept. 28 episode of ABC’s “Modern Family,” portraying a transgender friend of Lily, the daughter of the show’s leading gay couple, the series’ director has announced. Modern Family director Ryan Case identified the show’s first openly transgender actor on Twitter, saying, “He’s 8 years old, from Atlanta, and just happens to be transgender. He

By David Roach Baptist Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Amid controversy over North Carolina’s controversial transgender restroom law, Southern Baptist Convention leaders estimate they’re less than two weeks away from finalizing contracts to hold the 2023 SBC annual meeting in Charlotte. And they say they’re glad to support the state for its moral stand on gender and sexuality.

Baptist Press NASHVILLE — An estimated million or more students in the U.S. and 63 foreign countries publicly gathered around school flagpoles Sept. 28 and prayed to the Lord Jesus Christ. The annual See You At the Pole (SYATP) interdenominational Christian outreach was augmented this year with the launch of the I Am Hope outreach leading up to the Oct. 21 release of the film “I’m Not Ashamed.”

By Jeff Brumley Associated Baptist Press The news just never seems to get better for American churches. A poll released this month confirms statistically what clergy and congregations are hearing anecdotally and through the media practically all the time: the percentage of U.S. adults who are religiously unaffiliated is increasing. “The share of Americans who do not identify with a religious group is surely growing,” the Pew Research Center said

Baptist Press WASHINGTON — Polygamy is knocking at the door of the U.S. Supreme Court. A polygamous family featured in the reality television show “Sister Wives” asked the justices Sept. 12 to review a lower-court ruling that had reversed a federal judge’s decision in favor of the polygamists. The high court will decide in the months ahead whether to grant review and rule on the case. Defenders of the biblical

Baptist Press NASHVILLE — Ticket sales for an encore showing of “The Insanity of God” in theaters Tuesday, Sept. 13, pushed box office receipts to $1.1 million. “Due to the success of the film’s two one-night theater showings,” Trey Reynolds, manager of LifeWay Films, said, “we are planning a church simulcast for the film the first or second week of November, with a consumer DVD and church license DVD to

By Bob Smeitana Baptist Press NASHVILLE — Since the 1950s, the IRS has banned preachers from endorsing candidates during church services. According to a new study, most Americans seem to like it that way. Eight in 10 (79 percent) say it is inappropriate for pastors to endorse a candidate in church. Three-quarters say churches should steer clear of endorsements. Yet fewer than half want churches to be punished if they