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  SBC ethics agency chief denounces Eric Garner grand jury decision

  SBC ethics leader Russell Moore said there is “no excuse” for the grand jury decision in Staten Island, N.Y., not to indict the police officer captured on video using a chokehold to subdue Eric Garner.

  12/05/2014 - By John Rutledge

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  Obama immigration action may split evangelical coalition

  President Obama’s decision to bypass Congress and act on his own threatens to fracture a broad—and rare—coalition of religious groups who came together to push for a solution to improve the nation’s immigration system.

  12/05/2014 - By John Rutledge

• Faith leaders, consumer advocates push for lower payday loan rates

  Dozens of faith leaders and consumer advocates are pressing Congress to create a national interest rate cap for payday lenders instead of the exorbitant three-digit rates charged to people in several states.

  11/28/2014 - By John Rutledge

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  Study: 22% of families have turned to church food pantries for help

  During the holiday season, many church-affiliated food pantries across the country will collect donations to help people in need. Chances are, some food donors also know what it’s like to go to bed hungry.

  11/26/2014 - By John Rutledge

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  Court rejects challenge to clergy housing allowance

  Clergy can keep their tax-free housing allowance for now, because a group challenging its constitutionality lacks legal standing to sue, a federal appeals court ruled.

  11/14/2014 - By John Rutledge

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  BJC supports Muslim prisoner’s right to grow beard

  The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments weighing the rights of people in prison to exercise their religion against sensitivity to corrections officials in security matters.

  10/10/2014 - By John Rutledge

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  Judge says Oklahoma Ten Commandments monument can stay

  A Baptist minister suing for removal of a Ten Commandments monument at the Oklahoma state capitol won’t get his day in court, a district judge said.

  09/26/2014 - By John Rutledge

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  Historic Atlanta Baptist church considered for national recognition

  West Hunter Street Baptist Church in Atlanta, where Ralph Abernathy Sr. and Martin Luther King Jr. met, prayed and organized the civil rights movement, could be on its way to formal national recognition after a vote by the U.S. House of Representatives.

  09/19/2014 - By John Rutledge

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  Court hears challenge to clergy housing allowance

  The fate of a 60-year-old provision that allows churches to provide ministers with a tax-exempt “parsonage allowance” rests in the hands of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

  09/12/2014 - By John Rutledge

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  Christian group sanctioned at two dozen college campuses

  California State University, which has 23 campuses, is “de-recognizing” local chapters of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, an evangelical Christian group with 860 chapters in the United States.

  09/12/2014 - By John Rutledge

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  MLK’s daughter seeks nonviolent Ferguson response

  The youngest child of Martin Luther King Jr. says her father’s legacy of nonviolence is at stake as the Ferguson, Mo., community continues to confront the police shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

  08/28/2014 - By John Rutledge

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  RFRA too important to be undone, Baptist legal experts insist

  Two Baptist experts in religious liberty law say the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Hobby Lobby decision could set a precedent for applying the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in ways contrary to its legislative intent.

  08/20/2014 - By John Rutledge