After some debate, the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee declined to accept a suggestion to go on the legal offensive against Johnny Hunt. Hunt, a former SBC president, filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the SBC for defamation after he was…
Why won’t the SBC be more financially transparent?
Amid all the other headlines at this week’s Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, you might have missed an important internal debate that happened about financial transparency. To those outside the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, this may not matter. But for…
Judge picks apart Johnny Hunt’s claims against SBC point by point
With academic precision, a federal judge’s 74-page opinion picks apart Johnny Hunt’s lawsuit against the Southern Baptist Convention, SBC Executive Committee and Guidepost Solutions. The full decision was published April 1, the day after Judge William Campbell granted summary judgment…
Most of Hunt’s lawsuit against SBC thrown out by federal judge
“Pastor Johnny” will not be collecting $100 million from the Southern Baptist Convention as he had hoped. Almost all Johnny Hunt’s defamation lawsuit against the SBC, its Executive Committee and Guidepost Solutions was dismissed in summary judgment March 31 by…
NAMB skewered for its nonresponse response on Hunt’s compensation
Some of the most conservative media outlets covering Christianity in America are skewering the Southern Baptist Convention North American Mission Board for its policy of communication by obfuscation. Protestia represents the far-far right of American evangelicalism. The latest headline at the…
New date set for Johnny Hunt trial
A new trial date has been set for Johnny Hunt’s lawsuit against the Southern Baptist Convention in which he seeks more than $100 million for damages to his income, reputation and livelihood. That new date falls one week after the…
No settlement reached between Johnny Hunt and SBC
An attempt to mediate the legal dispute between Johnny Hunt and the Southern Baptist Convention has failed, according to court filings. Meeting last Tuesday in Nashville, trustees of the SBC Executive Committee reportedly approved some framework for a possible settlement…
SBC may be heading toward settlement with Johnny Hunt, will sell building
Faced with millions of dollars in unbudgeted legal expenses related to sexual abuse investigations, defenses and settlements, the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee will sell its downtown Nashville office building, which is valued at more than $30 million. While that…
A cautionary tale of celebrity pastors and family empires
Late last month, Liberty University and its former president, Jerry Falwell Jr., settled for an undisclosed amount to end a multi-year, sprawling set of multi-million dollar lawsuits brought by Falwell against the Lynchburg, Va.-based school. For the world’s “largest evangelical university,” the…
Megan Basham sharply criticized for outing Johnny Hunt’s alleged abuse victim
A prominent religion reporter has lambasted far-right culture warrior Megan Basham for exposing the name of Johnny Hunt’s alleged sexual abuse victim in her new book. Evangelical Twitter is lit up with critiques of Basham’s book, Shepherds for Sale, that…
SBC leader offers little hope for change on addressing clergy sex abuse
Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee Chair Philip Robertson gives his thoughts on the clergy sex abuse problem within the Southern Baptist Convention in this video. Spoiler: He doesn’t think it’s much of a problem. Robertson attempts to discredit and sow…
Johnny Hunt tells his side of the story, including his definition of ‘adultery’
Johnny Hunt finally got to tell his side the story about what happened at a beachside condo in 2010, when he is accused of sexually abusing a pastor’s wife the age of his own daughters. In a court deposition taken…