A Southern Baptist megachurch in South Carolina says it is not responsible for actions of a former volunteer criminally accused of sexually assaulting preschool boys inside a church bathroom while security cameras rolled.
SBC leader steps down after newspaper expose about abuse and coverup
Backlash to an investigation by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News about widespread sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention has prompted the resignation of at least one convention leader. Ken Alford, pastor of Crossroads Baptist Church in Valdosta,…
Contested congressional election wide open after Mark Harris decides not to run
Republicans seeking nomination for the last open seat in the 116th United States Congress face a wide-open field after a former Southern Baptist pastor initially declared winner of the race said he will not campaign in an upcoming special election…
Families sue Academy Sports for selling weapon used in church shooting
Fifty-six individuals seeking more than $1 million each in damages claim Academy illegally sold the Ruger AR-556 rifle used to kill 27 men, women and children at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Nov. 5, 2017.
One-time VBS volunteer at Southern Baptist church charged with violating sex offender registry rules
A Tennessee man included on a list compiled by two Texas newspapers naming Southern Baptist church leaders and volunteers found guilty of sex crimes has been arrested for violating sex offender registry rules. Police in Jackson, Tennessee, arrested 39-year-old Chad…
SBC leadership group reserves judgment about churches named in media reports about abuse
A Southern Baptist Convention leadership group announced on Saturday it has cleared seven of 10 churches called out by SBC President J.D. Greear for possible “wanton disregard” of sexual abuse.
Supreme Court denies appeal to pastor/judge barred from death penalty cases
The United States Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to take up the case of an Arkansas judge claiming civil rights violations based on religious beliefs he exercised in his other job as a Baptist pastor. Without comment, the high court…
1990s documentary about SBC battle over women in ministry now online for free
Producers of an in-progress documentary about the rise of contemporary evangelical Christian feminism say answers to what went wrong with the Southern Baptist Convention’s method of handling domestic violence and child sex abuse may lie in a film that aired…
Abuse survivors, activists to rally ‘for such a time as this’ a second time
Women who rallied in sweltering heat outside last summer’s Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Dallas to draw attention to sexual abuse and domestic violence in the denomination are hoping for a warmer welcome when they reassemble at the 2019 SBC in Birmingham, Alabama.