LifeWay Declines Southern Baptist Convention Request to Bar NIV From Stores

Religion Today | Published: Feb 21, 2012

LifeWay Declines Southern Baptist Convention Request to Bar NIV From Stores

February 22, 2012

The trustees of LifeWay Christian Resources voted unanimously to continue selling 2011 New International Version (NIV) Bibles in its bookstores, despite a request from the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) for the publishing organization not to do so, Christianity Today reports. The SBC passed a resolution at its annual convention in June criticizing the new NIV version as an "inaccurate translation of God's inspired Scripture" because it removes male pronouns from passages where both genders are contextually implied, and asked LifeWay, which is owned and operated by the convention, not to sell the Bibles. However, LifeWay's trustee executive committee ruled this month that the organization will continue to sell them. "From a retail perspective, we do not believe that we should cease carrying and make available to the public the 2011 NIV," said committee chairman Adam Greenway. "We do not believe the 2011 NIV rises to the level where it should be pulled or censored or not carried in our retail chain."

LifeWay Declines Southern Baptist Convention Request to Bar NIV From Stores