THE BRIEFING | Five men were shot yesterday outside Uptown Baptist Church on Chicago’s north side. The shooting, thought to have resulted from a dispute between two gangs, occurred while the church held a prayer service inside the building. Uptown hosts the service and a weekly meal on Monday evenings for their neighborhood’s homeless population.

“A few of us went outside to see what happened,” Pastor Michael Allen told DNAinfo.com. “We found several people on the ground bleeding profusely, and they were screaming.”

The church plans to hold a prayer vigil Wednesday evening at 6:30.

Read the Chicago Tribune’s story here.

Other news:

Pastors to pray in Dallas
Senior pastors from Southern Baptist churches of all sizes are invited to gather in Texas this fall to pray together 24 hours. The event, scheduled for Sept. 30-Oct. 1 at the Hilton Dallas/Southlake Town Square, “is not a ‘come and go’ event or a place to ‘come and be seen,’ nor is it a denominational or political meeting,” said Arkansas pastor Ronnie Floyd (left) in a written statement. “It is a serious spiritual experience of prayer with pastors nationally.” Read more at BPNews.net.

Group advocates pulpit freedom
A 14-member commission recently recommended relaxing restrictions on political speech in church services, Baptist Press reports. The group, created at the request of Sen. Charles Grassley (R.-Iowa), found “a member of the clergy should be permitted to say whatever he or she believes is appropriate in the context of a religious worship service without fear of government reprisal, even when such communications include content related to political candidates.” Read the full story here.

Abortion is moral issue for most
Most Americans still view abortion as either morally acceptable or morally wrong, but they’re less likely to view other birth issues in those terms, according to a survey by Pew Research. The study found 49% of people believe having an abortion is morally wrong, but far fewer respondents were morally opposed to embryonic stem cell research (22%) and in vitro fertilization (12%). According to Pew, only 23% of people believe abortion is not a moral issue, compared to 36% for embryonic stem cell research and 46% for in vitro fertilization. Read more at PewForum.org.

Parenting advice that’s truly inspired
Mother of 19 Michelle Duggar learned how to settle sibling disputes from the Bible. “I thought I’m going to go nuts if all I’m doing all day long is refereeing these little ones,” the matriarch of TV’s “19 Kids and Counting” says in a video on The Learning Channel’s website. But she looked to Matthew 18 for help. “If you have a problem you talk sweet to your brother or sister,” Duggar says, paraphrasing the passage for her little ones. “If they came up and took your dump truck away from you, you talk sweet to them and try and turn their heart to God saying, ‘Brother don’t take that truck away.’” Read the full story at ChristianPost.com.