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 do endorse candidates. Those are among the findings in a new report on religion and politics from LifeWay Research.

Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research, says there’s little enthusiasm for political endorsement by pastors or churches.

“Americans already argue about politics enough outside the church,” McConnell said. “They don’t want pastors bringing those arguments into worship.” [Read more…]

Baptist Press

Cecil Seagle

MARTINSVILLE, Ind.  — Cecil W. Seagle will end five years of service as executive director of the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana on Dec. 16.

Seagle, 76, made the announcement during the opening session of the SCBI Executive Board’s Aug. 15-16 meeting at the Indiana convention’s Highland Lakes Baptist Camp in Martinsville. Seagle was elected as SCBI executive director on Nov. 1, 2011, after serving eight months as interim executive director, a role he assumed after 22 years as the Florida Baptist Convention’s missions division director.

By David Roach
Baptist Press

Photo by David Roach

NASHVILLE (BP) — A New York Times op-ed suggesting the Old Testament supports transgenderism has been classified by Southern Baptist seminary professors as a mischaracterization of Hebrew grammar and theology.

“It should not surprise any of us that if we want to find something in Scripture, then we will twist it to say what we want it to say,” Paul Wegner, professor of Old Testament studies at Gateway Seminary of the Southern Baptist Convention, told Baptist Press. “[Op-ed writer] Mark Sameth has pointed out some oddities in the Hebrew Bible, but it is doubtful that they mean what he thinks.” [Read more…]

By Diana Chandler
Baptist Press

CLEVELAND, Tenn. (BP) — On the 15th anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attack in U.S. history, Southern Baptists are being urged to join hundreds of thousands of Christians from many denominations and ethnicities in praying for a Christian awakening in the nation.

The Sept. 11 Cry Out America prayer outreach of the Awakening America Alliance and Center for Spiritual Renewal, an 8-year-old cooperative initiative encompassing more than 150,000 churches, ministries and parachurches in North America, is increasingly popular this year as more Christians recognize the nation’s deep spiritual need, Awakening America executive director Kay Horner told Baptist Press. [Read more…]