The Southern Baptist Convention’s Sexual Abuse Task Force has issued a series of responses to the recent Guidepost Solutions investigation that range from suggestions to two action items to be considered by messengers to the SBC annual meeting this summer….
West Texas Baptist university adopts new faith statement with strict emphasis on gender and marriage
Trustees of Hardin-Simmons University in West Texas have adopted a new statement of faith that focuses on “two genetic sexes” and marriage as “a life-long, covenant relationship between one genetic male and one genetic female” as articles of faith. The…
Hannah Kate Williams refiles sexual abuse lawsuit against SBC entities
A large-scale lawsuit against the Southern Baptist Convention alleging a coverup of sexual abuse has been refiled by a new set of attorneys for Hannah Kate Williams. An earlier version of the same charges had been filed in a Kentucky…
Ryan Burge has some important things to say about white evangelicals, partisan politics and the future
If you’re interested in fascinating yet random facts and trends about American religion and culture, follow Ryan Burge (@ryanburge) on Twitter. Burge, who is an American Baptist pastor and a professor at Eastern Illinois University, loves to make graphs. And…
SBC establishes hotline to receive reports of sexual abuse in churches
The Southern Baptist Convention has established a confidential hotline for survivors of sexual abuse in churches to make reports, an unprecedented step for the nation’s largest non-Catholic denomination. After decades of denying the problem exists and even shaming those who…
Who is Augie Boto, the central figure in the SBC sexual abuse cover up?
Search the internet or the indices of books written about the history of the Southern Baptist Convention and you’ll find few references to August “Augie” Boto. This week, Boto’s name is all over the internet, however, because of his starring…
While SBC weeps over sexual abuse allegations, the TheoBros take on Beth Allison Barr one more time
While most anyone concerned about religion in America spent May 23 still digesting the 300-page report of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Sexual Abuse Task Force, a group advocating male headship had another topic in mind: The horrors of Beth Allison…
SBC’s former law firm sharply disagrees with Sexual Abuse Task Force report
The legal firm that previously served the Southern Baptist Convention and reportedly tried to block a full public investigation of mishandling sexual abuse claims is not happy with the report issued May 22 by Guidepost Solutions. And Ronnie Floyd, the…
What’s next for recommendations and reforms in SBC sexual abuse study?
The very thing Southern Baptist leaders have said for decades cannot be done tops the list of recommended actions from the independent firm that investigated allegations of mishandling sexual abuse cases. Guidepost Solutions says the Southern Baptist Convention should “form…
Guidepost report documents pattern of ignoring, denying and deflecting on sexual abuse claims in SBC
A few key leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee repeatedly worked to stall, deny and control information about sexual abuse within the nation’s largest non-Catholic denomination, according to an independent investigation released Sunday, May 22. And almost coincidentally…
Oklahoma legislators say life begins at ‘fertilization’
Oklahoma legislators appear to know the exact answer to a question that has vexed doctors and theologians for centuries: When does life begin? According to a controversial bill adopted by the Oklahoma Legislature May 19, life begins at fertilization. “If…
Louisville police training quoted Bible verse to say officers are God’s agents of wrath
The police department that wrongly shot Breonna Taylor dead in her own apartment in 2020 had trained its officers just three years earlier that they are avengers who carry out “God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.” New reporting by the Louisville,…