Texas action ranks among top stories
___JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (ABP) --The Baptist General Convention of Texas' October vote to reduce funding for Southern Baptist Convention seminaries was ranked the second-most-important story of the year by editors of state Baptist newspapers.
___The annual editors' poll, conducted by Associated Baptist Press, ranked the SBC's revisions to the Baptist Faith & Message as the top story of the year, with the Texas funding changes following in a close second.
___The two stories were not unrelated. Texas Baptist leaders pointed to the first major rewrite of Southern Baptists' official belief statement since 1963 as a rationale for re-evaluating the state convention's historic relationship with the denomination.
___Both the SBC's revisions in the Baptist Faith & Message and the Texas response of reducing funding to the SBC also made a list of the year's top 10 religion stories as voted by the religion editors of the nation's daily newspapers.
___The SBC revisions, particularly the stipulation against women serving as pastors, was ranked the sixth-biggest story of the year by the secular reporters, and the loosening of ties from the SBC represented by Texas and former President Jimmy Carter ranked fourth.
The Baptist Standard
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