On Tuesday, Sept. 21, the single greatest threat to the future of the Southern Baptist Convention since the controversy of the Conservative Resurgence was revealed. It was not revealed to be a liberal drift, inerrancy versus non-inerrancy, women preachers, the…
SBC faces a test of its governance with tug-of-war over sexual abuse investigation
The Southern Baptist Convention currently faces one of the greatest tests ever of its internal governance while also fending off serious accusations of mishandling sexual abuse claims. This dual problem consumed the Sept. 20-21 meeting of the SBC Executive Committee…
SBC task forces hires the same investigative firm the Executive Committee wanted but on different terms
The independent firm originally hired by the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee to investigate itself has been chosen for that task again — this time by the special task force created by SBC annual meeting messengers in a rebuke to…
Judge delays trial date for Jane Roe’s case against Patterson and Southwestern Seminary
Two-and-a-half years after Jane Roe filed suit in federal court against Paige Patterson and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, the trial date has been delayed yet again. On Sept. 2, Sean Jordan, U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of Texas,…
New lawsuit accuses SBC Executive Committee, Southern Seminary, Lifeway and others of ‘conspiracy’ to cover up sexual abuse claims
A sweeping lawsuit filed by a victim of alleged sexual abuse at the hands of her Baptist pastor father alleges a conspiracy among several Southern Baptist Convention entities and individuals to defame her and squelch her pleas for relief. The…
Southern Baptists join Catholic bishops in asserting ‘no Constitutional basis’ for abortion at all
There is no constitutional basis for abortion in America, and states should be able to regulate it without interference from the federal government, according to a court brief filed July 28 with the U.S. Supreme Court by the Southern Baptist…
From purity pledges to the Equality Act: How evangelical concern about sex has shifted and what it has to do with creation
When more than 200,000 evangelical purity pledges were being planted at the National Mall in 1994 at the height of the True Love Waits movement, nobody would have imagined that the next 25 years would bring about a total revolution…
Beware the Anti-Anti-Racist Evangelical Complex
Since publication of their new book addressing a Christian view on reparations for descendants of formerly enslaved Americans, Gregory Thompson and Duke Kwon have been met with harsh criticism by the “Anti-Anti-Racist Evangelical Complex.” That’s the best name I can…
A modest proposal for imperiled pulpit plagiarists
Pulpit plagiarism has been making the news again. “Again” is the operative word. This is not new. A couple of friends, now in their 80s, recall making a wager about which swiped sermon a famous Baptist preacher/evangelist would deliver to…