June 8, 2021

Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor:

Layne Wallace’s one-sided opinion piece, “Now we know why the SBC hasn’t acted more on sexual abuse,” leaves out the notion there may be another side to the story.

He cites a recently released letter from outgoing SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission President Russell Moore and states it “sheds new light” on the “lack of denominational action” on sexual abuse claims within the SBC. He only has that letter as a reference.

It is a letter, supposedly private, that was curiously leaked just a few weeks before the annual meeting of Southern Baptists in Nashville. A meeting where Pastor Mike Stone, a name prominently mentioned in the leaked letter, will be nominated for SBC president.

Wallace’s opinion has no inside knowledge of committee meetings or the workings of the SBC itself, since his Baptist church is not affiliated with the SBC. Is there another side to the story that a disgruntled and often criticized Moore didn’t share? Wallace did not seem to be overly concerned with investigating the claims, just parading his opinion on a matter he knows less about than he believes he does.

Wallace’s opinion would have more credibility if he had taken the time to seek out and hear from the individuals named in Moore’s letter. But that would have required a professional journalistic touch and not a mere opinion.

Chris Chambers, Lebanon, Tenn.