Bob Smietana
Bob Smietana is a veteran religion writer and national reporter for Religion News Service.
All Stories by Bob Smietana
What is the ERLC and why do Southern Baptists keep getting mad at its leader?
By Bob Smietana — July 26, 2024
(RNS) — Turmoil at the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission has increased calls to disband the denomination's public policy arm, but some SBC pastors say it can and should be saved.
ERLC reverses course, now says Brent Leatherwood was not fired
By Bob Smietana — July 23, 2024
(RNS) — The kerfuffle over Leatherwood’s status, which played out in competing press releases from ERLC leaders, is the latest controversy for the SBC’s public policy arm.
Brent Leatherwood, ERLC president, fired a day after praising Biden
By Bob Smietana — July 22, 2024
(RNS) — Leatherwood had been criticized for other recent positions on topics of key interest to Southern Baptists, such as not supporting legislation that would have jailed women who chose abortions.
In small-town Illinois, a little church says goodbye
By Bob Smietana — July 22, 2024
MOUNT VERNON, Ill. (RNS) — Ryan Burge, pastor and sociologist, has documented church decline for years. This Sunday, after 150 years, his own church held its final service.
How a perfect storm sent church insurance rates skyrocketing
By Bob Smietana — July 10, 2024
(RNS) — The same factors that have caused a crisis in the homeowner's insurance market are also affecting churches, who have to choose between paying for insurance or running programs.
California Baptists cut staff, citing decline in Cooperative Program Giving
By Bob Smietana — July 3, 2024
(RNS) — Overall giving to the SBC’s national funding program is down about 2%.
Dying of cancer, Amy Low finds meaning in the mundane of life
By Bob Smietana — June 27, 2024
(RNS) — In a new memoir, writer and cancer patient Amy Low describes the lessons she's learned while facing her mortality.
Why the swing state faith voters who really matter in 2024 aren’t evangelicals
By Bob Smietana and Jack Jenkins — June 25, 2024
(RNS) — MAGA evangelicals grab all the headlines. But it’s swing state faith voters — Catholics, mainliners and Black Protestants — who will likely decide the election.
The author of ‘Jesus Calling’ died last year. Why is a denomination investigating her?
By Bob Smietana — June 20, 2024
(RNS) — At a recent PCA meeting, critics of ‘Jesus Calling,’ written by Sarah Young, called for an investigation to see if the book was safe for Christians to read.
Paul Pressler, SBC legend accused of abuse, is dead at 94
By Bob Smietana — June 15, 2024
(RNS) — Pressler was one of the architects of the ‘Conservative Resurgence’ that took over the Southern Baptist Convention in the 1980s and 1990s. He was later accused of sexual abuse.
Southern Baptists pass resolution calling for strictures to curb IVF
By Bob Smietana — June 13, 2024
INDIANAPOLIS (RNS) — At their annual meeting, Southern Baptists joined the recently renewed debate over in vitro fertilization, passing a resolution calling for restrictions on the practice. Some leaders went further, condemning the procedure as immoral.
The future of SBC abuse reform is now in the hands of denominational committee
By Bob Smietana — June 12, 2024
INDIANAPOLIS (RNS) — A volunteer task force said it did not have the funds or influence needed to make abuse reforms stick. Now local church messengers have asked the SBC’s Executive Committee to take on the task.
North Carolina pastor Clint Pressley elected SBC president
By Bob Smietana — June 12, 2024
(RNS) — Pressley, a North Carolina megachurch pastor, was elected after a pair of runoffs.
The Southern Baptists are meeting in Indianapolis. Here’s why it matters.
By Bob Smietana — June 10, 2024
INDIANAPOLIS (RNS) — More than 11,000 church members are expected to gather in Indianapolis for one of the largest, most influential church meetings of the year.
Church led by SBC candidate Clint Pressley reports volunteer to police for alleged abuse
By Bob Smietana — June 9, 2024
(RNS ) — Hickory Grove Baptist Church pastor Clint Pressley said that a student at the church's school reported the abuse, which was reported to police and child protection officials.
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