“People speak of hope as if it is this delicate, ephemeral thing. … It’s not. Hope has dirt on her face, blood on her knuckles, the grit of the cobblestones in her hair, and just spat out a tooth as…
Dragging the SBC into court drags truth into light
The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee is now involved in more than a dozen lawsuits relating to allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse. That’s in addition to the investigation by the Department of Justice. Hallelujah. I wish it were 100….
Every member of the SBC’s abuse reform task force should resign in protest
When a member of the Southern Baptist Convention’s prior Sexual Abuse Task Force emailed me to apologize, I felt grateful for the candor and honesty. “I want to personally apologize to you,” the person wrote, “if anything I did ever…
Prominent Arkansas SBC church accused of hiding knowledge of former staff member’s abuse of child
A former Southern Baptist children’s minister accused of child sexual abuse has asked an Arkansas court to seal his record, an effort critics say would hinder other potential victims from coming forward. Meanwhile, the Southern Baptist church where he last…
‘It was futile … nothing will change’
“Apology.” That was the subject heading. It was an email from a member of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Sexual Abuse Task Force, the committee that was created in the summer of 2021 and given a one-year term to oversee a…
SBC president apologizes for signing off on amicus brief
The president of the Southern Baptist Convention has apologized for signing off on an amicus brief in a Kentucky sexual abuse case — a brief that has ignited a firestorm of protest from sexual abuse survivors and their advocates, some…
Four things the SBC Executive Committee should do right now to address clergy sex abuse
The Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee will meet next Monday in Nashville. Here are four things it could do to address clergy sex abuse. All are within its own power and could be done without bumping up against church autonomy….
Will Southern Baptists give abuse survivors stones for bread?
As the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention approaches next week in New Orleans, one line from the Gospel of Matthew keeps rising in our minds: “Who is there among you, who, if his son asks for bread, will…
Five things Southern Baptists should do now to address clergy sex abuse
Seventeen years ago, the two of us wrote to Southern Baptist Convention officials, urging creation of a denominational database of pastors criminally convicted or credibly accused of sexual abuse. “Moral obligation demands it,” we said. That moral obligation still stands…