By Murray Evans
The Associated Press

LEXINGTON - A senior judge on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was elected president of one of Kentucky's largest religious groups on Tuesday.

Eugene Siler of Williamsburg, on the federal bench since 1975, became only the fourth layman in the last 50 years to be elected president of the Kentucky Baptist Convention. Siler defeated Lexington pastor Bill Henard 532-436 in the vote, taken on the first day of the convention's annual meeting.

Siler "has found time to serve God through his church and our convention," said Eldred Taylor of Louisville, who formally nominated Siler for the presidency. "This layman is a humble servant. He has often been called on for service."

Siler's grandfather, A.T. Siler, and father, former Rep. Eugene Siler, served as moderators with the General Association of Baptists in Kentucky, the convention's predecessor.

Siler was the convention's first vice president last year. He will begin his one-year term as president today at the end of the annual meeting.

"I'm just symbolic of the laity of the convention," Siler said. "It's not that I'm a federal judge. I think a lot of people know me because of that, but they also know me because of my family's involvement in the Baptist convention."

Siler is retired but still hears legal cases. He's been a judge for the 6th Circuit - which hears cases from Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and Michigan - since 1991.

Siler, who attends the First Baptist Church in Williamsburg, said his new position with the state Baptist convention would have no effect on his rulings.