Sex abuse crisis tops agenda as Southern Baptists convene
5 years, 7 months ago

Sex abuse crisis tops agenda as Southern Baptists convene

Associated Press  

The Southern Baptist Convention gathers for its annual national meeting Tuesday with one sobering topic — sex abuse by clergy and staff — overshadowing all others. 1 recommendation is for Southern Baptists to “enter a season of sorrow and repentance.” Ahead of next week’s meeting, there’s been a surge of debate — much of it waged on social media — related to the Southern Baptist Convention’s doctrine of “complementarianism” that calls for male leadership in the home and the church. “Elders must not allow such a sinful practice.” Beth Moore responded with a series of tweets on May 11, questioning the motives of SBC leaders seeking to limit women’s roles. It involved covering abuses & misuses of power.” Several male Southern Baptist pastors have aligned themselves with activist women in decrying sex abuse and limits on women’s leadership roles.

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History of this topic

The Southern Baptist Convention vote on IVF: The group’s stance on reproductive technology is only the beginning.
6 months, 3 weeks ago

The Southern Baptist Convention vote on IVF: The group’s stance on reproductive technology is only the beginning.

Slate  

On a street corner outside the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting in Indianapolis this week, a small contingent from Baptist Women in Ministry, a group of Baptists from various denominations, held colorful signs reading “Women Were the First Preachers” and “Break Barriers Not Spirits.” A few passersby covertly gave them a thumbs-up. Nearly 11,000 SBC “messengers,” representatives from the nation’s …

Southern Baptists narrowly reject formal ban on churches with any women pastors
6 months, 4 weeks ago

Southern Baptists narrowly reject formal ban on churches with any women pastors

Associated Press  

INDIANAPOLIS — Southern Baptists narrowly rejected a proposal Wednesday to enshrine a ban on churches with women pastors in their constitution after opponents argued it was unnecessary because the denomination already has a way of ousting such churches. It was the final day of the SBC’s two-day annual meeting in Indianapolis where Southern Baptists have also elected a new convention …

Southern Baptists narrowly reject formal ban on churches with any female pastors
6 months, 4 weeks ago

Southern Baptists narrowly reject formal ban on churches with any female pastors

LA Times  

Southern Baptists narrowly rejected a proposal Wednesday to enshrine a ban on churches with female pastors in the denomination’s constitution after opponents argued it was unnecessary because the denomination already has a way of ousting such churches. It is the final day of the SBC’s two-day annual meeting in Indianapolis where Southern Baptists have also elected a new convention president …

Southern Baptists expel Virginia church for believing women can serve as pastors
6 months, 4 weeks ago

Southern Baptists expel Virginia church for believing women can serve as pastors

Associated Press  

INDIANAPOLIS — Even as they prepare to vote on a formal ban on churches with women pastors, delegates to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to boot one such church from its ranks. Messengers, as voting representatives are known, voted 6,759 to 563 to oust First Baptist Church of Alexandria, a historic Virginia congregation that affirms women …

From women pastors to sexual abuse to Trump, Southern Baptists have a busy few days ahead of them
7 months ago

From women pastors to sexual abuse to Trump, Southern Baptists have a busy few days ahead of them

Associated Press  

Thousands will gather in Indianapolis June 11-12 for the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. In a recent YouTube interview with a fellow pastor, the chairman of the SBC’s Executive Committee, Philip Robertson, sought to downplay reports that there was a “systemic problem” of abuse in the denomination, which he contended were “not true.” This has been a talking …

Southern Baptists poised to ban churches with women pastors amid pleas to reconsider
7 months ago

Southern Baptists poised to ban churches with women pastors amid pleas to reconsider

LA Times  

People attend the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Nashville in 2021. On a recent Sunday, its pastor for women and children, Kim Eskridge, urged members to invite friends and neighbors to an upcoming vacation Bible school — an annual Baptist activity — to help “reach families in the community with the gospel.” But because that pastor is a woman, …

Southern Baptists are poised to ban churches with women pastors. Some are urging them to reconsider
7 months ago

Southern Baptists are poised to ban churches with women pastors. Some are urging them to reconsider

Associated Press  

From its towering white steeple and red-brick facade to its Sunday services filled with rousing gospel hymns and evangelistic sermons, First Baptist Church of Alexandria, Virginia, bears many of the classic hallmarks of a Southern Baptist church. On a recent Sunday, its pastor for women and children, Kim Eskridge, urged members to invite friends and neighbors to an upcoming vacation …

Southern Baptist agency says U.S. investigation into sexual abuse has ended with ‘no further action’
10 months ago

Southern Baptist agency says U.S. investigation into sexual abuse has ended with ‘no further action’

Associated Press  

A Southern Baptist Convention leader said Wednesday the U.S. Department of Justice has ended its investigation of a top denominational agency’s handling of sexual abuse and doesn’t anticipate further action. The statement by Jonathan Howe, interim president of the denomination’s Executive Committee, said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York informed the committee’s legal counsel on …

Southern Baptists oust one church for having woman pastor, two others over sexual-abuse policy
10 months, 2 weeks ago

Southern Baptists oust one church for having woman pastor, two others over sexual-abuse policy

Associated Press  

The Southern Baptist Convention’s top administrative body voted Tuesday to oust four congregations — one for having a woman as senior minister, two for what it said were failures related to the denomination’s sexual-abuse policy and one for lack of financial participation. Katie McKown to serve with and among us.” It cited Baptist tenets emphasizing the autonomy of congregations and …

Southern Baptist Convention settles lawsuit that accused former judge of sexual abuse
1 year ago

Southern Baptist Convention settles lawsuit that accused former judge of sexual abuse

Raw Story  

The Southern Baptist Convention and others have reached a confidential settlement in a high-profile lawsuit that accused a former leader of sexual assault, ending a six-year legal drama that helped prompt a broader reckoning over child sexual abuse in evangelical churches, expanded victims’ rights in Texas and showed that a prominent conservative activist and Texas House candidate repeatedly downplayed abuse …

Opinion: What is the Southern Baptists’ problem with women?
1 year, 6 months ago

Opinion: What is the Southern Baptists’ problem with women?

LA Times  

Rick Warren, founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Orange County, makes an appeal at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention on Tuesday to reinstate his church. “Messengers” of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination ratified the expulsion of two congregations — one of them Saddleback Church in Lake Forest — for condoning the ordination of women. Founded in 1980 …

Southern Baptists refuse to take back megachurch because it has women pastors
1 year, 6 months ago

Southern Baptists refuse to take back megachurch because it has women pastors

Associated Press  

NEW ORLEANS — The Southern Baptist Convention has refused to welcome Saddleback Church back into its fold, rejecting an appeal by the California megachurch over its February ouster for having women pastors. Southern Baptist church representatives at their annual meeting here also rejected a similar appeal by a smaller church, Fern Creek Baptist of Louisville, Kentucky, which is led by …

Southern Baptists cut ties with LGBTQ-friendly church
2 years, 3 months ago

Southern Baptists cut ties with LGBTQ-friendly church

Associated Press  

The Southern Baptist Convention’s top administrative body voted to cut ties with two congregations on Tuesday — an LGBTQ-friendly church in North Carolina that had itself quit the denomination decades ago and a New Jersey congregation it cited for “alleged discriminatory behavior.” The votes of the Executive Committee came at the end of a two-day meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, even …

Understanding the Southern Baptist scandal: For evangelicals, women can't say no
2 years, 4 months ago

Understanding the Southern Baptist scandal: For evangelicals, women can't say no

Salon  

The Southern Baptist Conference is under investigation by the Department of Justice due to numerous claims of egregious sexual abuse and sexual harassment within the denomination. Naturally, with this being the basic mindset, accusations by women regarding sexual abuse or harassment seem ridiculous to the majority of conservative evangelical men. You would think the whole Bible communicates this type of …

Southern Baptists say denomination faces DOJ investigation
2 years, 4 months ago

Southern Baptists say denomination faces DOJ investigation

Associated Press  

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention said Friday that several of the denomination’s major entities are under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice in the wake of its multiple problems related to clergy sex abuse. The statement from SBC leaders — including Executive Committee members, seminary presidents and heads of mission organizations — gave few details …

Southern Baptists say denomination faces Justice Department investigation
2 years, 4 months ago

Southern Baptists say denomination faces Justice Department investigation

LA Times  

The exterior of the Southern Baptist Convention headquarters in Nashville. Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention said Friday that several of the denomination’s major entities are under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice in the wake of its multiple problems related to clergy sex abuse. The statement from SBC leaders — including executive committee members, seminary presidents and heads …

Southern Baptists agree to keep list of accused sex abusers
2 years, 6 months ago

Southern Baptists agree to keep list of accused sex abusers

Associated Press  

ANAHEIM, California — The Southern Baptist Convention voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to create a way to track pastors and other church workers credibly accused of sex abuse and launch a new task force to oversee further reforms in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. Also Tuesday, the delegates debated but didn’t vote on whether to kick out one of its biggest and …

Q&A: Talking about the Southern Baptist sex abuse scandal with Pastor P.J. Tibayan
2 years, 6 months ago

Q&A: Talking about the Southern Baptist sex abuse scandal with Pastor P.J. Tibayan

LA Times  

More than 8,000 Southern Baptists will descend on Anaheim next week for the annual meeting of the largest Protestant denomination in the United States — the first time in 41 years that the two-day meeting has been held in California. The gathering comes just weeks after the release of an explosive 288-page report commissioned by the Southern Baptist Convention, that …

Op-Ed: The Southern Baptists are having a come-to-Jesus moment
2 years, 7 months ago

Op-Ed: The Southern Baptists are having a come-to-Jesus moment

LA Times  

Church leaders kept a list of accused predators among Southern Baptist clergy but did little to nothing in response. When Jesus became exasperated with the religious leaders of his day, he called them “blind guides” who “strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.” In the wake of this week’s searing public revelations of sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist …

Top Southern Baptists plan to release secret list of abusers
2 years, 7 months ago

Top Southern Baptists plan to release secret list of abusers

Associated Press  

Top administrative leaders for the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in America, said Tuesday that they will release a secret list of hundreds of pastors and other church-affiliated personnel accused of sexual abuse. An attorney for the SBC’s Executive Committee announced the decision during a virtual meeting called in response to a scathing investigative report detailing how the …

Southern Baptists face push for public list of sex abusers
2 years, 7 months ago

Southern Baptists face push for public list of sex abusers

Associated Press  

A blistering report on the Southern Baptist Convention’s mishandling of sex abuse allegations is raising the prospect that the denomination, for the first time, will create a publicly accessible database of pastors and other church personnel known to be abusers. The creation of an “Offender Information System” was one of the key recommendations in a report released Sunday by Guidepost …

Report: Top Southern Baptists stonewalled sex abuse victims
2 years, 7 months ago

Report: Top Southern Baptists stonewalled sex abuse victims

Associated Press  

The Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee — and thousands of its rank-and-file members — now have opportunities to address a scathing investigative report that says top SBC leaders stonewalled and denigrated survivors of clergy sex abuse over two decades while seeking to protect their own reputations. The report, issued Sunday, says these survivors, and other concerned Southern Baptists, repeatedly shared …

Top Southern Baptist committee funds sex abuse probe
3 years, 3 months ago

Top Southern Baptist committee funds sex abuse probe

Associated Press  

NASHVILLE, Tennessee — A top Southern Baptist Convention committee agreed Tuesday to fund a third-party investigation into its handling of sexual abuse allegations but held off on waiving its attorney-client privilege for the probe, delaying for the future a decision seen as a key demand of the thousands of Southern Baptists who set the review in motion. They also directed …

Growing number of Southern Baptist women question roles
3 years, 9 months ago

Growing number of Southern Baptist women question roles

Associated Press  

Emily Snook is the daughter of a Southern Baptist pastor. It will be because the men the Baptist Faith and Message says are supposed to lead in Christ-like ways have failed to do so.” Prior was referring to the doctrine adopted by the SBC in 2000 which espouses male leadership in the home and the church and says a wife …

Southern Baptists oust 2 churches over LGBTQ inclusion
3 years, 10 months ago

Southern Baptists oust 2 churches over LGBTQ inclusion

Associated Press  

The Southern Baptist Convention’s executive committee voted Tuesday to oust four of its churches, two over policies deemed to be too inclusive of LGBTQ people and two more for employing pastors convicted of sex offenses. In a statement Tuesday, St. Matthews said the SBC’s decision to oust it was based on its LGBTQ-inclusive membership policy — which asserts that “a …

Southern Baptists Share Strategic Plan To Address Sexual Abuse
5 years, 10 months ago

Southern Baptists Share Strategic Plan To Address Sexual Abuse

Huff Post  

Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear speaks to the denomination's executive committee Monday, Feb. 18, 2019, in Nashville, Tenn. ASSOCIATED PRESS The Southern Baptist Convention has laid out the bare bones of a plan to combat sexual abuse a week after a groundbreaking news story last week exposed hundreds of sexual misconduct allegations targeting people in the conservative evangelical denomination. …

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