Hoping to provide useful data to help settle the Southern Baptist Convention’s dilemma on whether to change the Christian denomination’s name, a research group released a study Wednesday on how Americans view the SBC along with other faith groups.

The majority of Americans have a favorable impression of Southern Baptists, according to the LifeWay Research study. However, 40 percent of respondents have an unfavorable view of the denomination and more than a third strongly assume an SBC church is not for them.

The negative viewpoint is slightly higher (44 percent) among the unchurched, according to the study. more >>

Open Doors USA is calling on politicians of every stripe to sign the Presidential Pledge for Religious Freedom to help uphold the rights of believers and nonbelievers at home and abroad and send a resounding message that the United States "considers religious freedom important to the flourishing of a civil society."

The pledge, authored by Dr. Thomas Farr and Dr. Carl A. Moeller, is being presented to all presidential candidates and begins: "I PLEDGE that I will protect religious freedom in full for all Americans, and will advance international religious freedom as part of American foreign policy."

The three points to the pledge ask candidates to commit to the First Amendment and its application to believers and nonbelievers; promise to nominate judges to the U.S. federal bench who are committed to protecting the religious rights of all Americans; and make the promotion of religious freedom a foreign policy priority in his or her administration. more >>

 A supporter of the initiative sponsored by former president Jimmy Carter to unite Baptists across racial and theological divides has denounced the claim that the effort is biased against the Southern Baptist Convention.

Bill Jones, associate executive director of the Texas Baptists Committed, told The Christian Post that the claim that the Southern Baptist Convention was not welcomed at the New Baptist Covenant was “inaccurate.”

“Were the SBC leaders given personal invitations? I don't know. Most people who attended were not given personal invitations,” said Jones. more >>

In what appears to be a failed scheme to cover up a teacher's affair with a teen student, officials in Delaware have arrested the teacher, her father, her uncle and a former principal who all worked at a Christian high school. Two of the men arrested and charged also serve at a local Baptist church.

According to the grand jury indictment obtained by ABC News 7, Terah Allyn Rawlings, a teacher at Hilltop Baptist School in Colorado Springs, Colo., was charged with eight counts of sexual assault on a child for allegedly having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old boy in 2007 and 2008.

Rawlings was arrested Wednesday, Nov. 16 and posted a $25,000 bond, reports CBS Denver. more >>

Due to a vote taken at the Baptist General Convention of Texas on Tuesday, Baylor University will lose nearly $1 million of its funding.

The vote, which was part of the annual meeting of the BGCT, reduces the amount of funds from $2.8 million given this year by the convention to $1.9 million.

“Of course, we are disappointed in this action by the BGCT, particularly given Baylor’s strong tradition of support for Texas Baptist students and programs, including George W. Truett Theological Seminary,” said Lori W. Fogleman, director of Communications for Baylor, to The Christian Post. more >>

Southern Baptist pastor Robert Jeffress made some controversial remarks over the weekend when he described the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a “cult.” The Southern Baptist understanding of the word “cult” is different than popularly held notions, which confused the debate.

Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, explained what Jeffress meant in his remarks, in a Tuesday interview on CNN.

“When we use the word 'cult,' that's a theological definition of a movement that claims to be within the confines of the Christian faith and clearly is not within the confines of the Christian faith. It is a new religion,” Land explained. more >>