The U.S. Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation into allegations of sexual abuse within the Southern Baptist Convention, the SBC Executive Committee confirmed late Friday, Aug. 12. The scope and focus of the investigation were not made public,…
Skepticism holds seeds of hope: The SBC and clergy sex abuse
People speak of hope as if it is this delicate, ephemeral thing made of whispers and spider’s webs. It’s not. Hope has dirt on her face, blood on her knuckles, the grit of the cobblestones in her hair, and just…
SBC president says he tried to enlist more women for sexual abuse task force but got turned down repeatedly
On the same day Baptist News Global published an analysis showing severe underrepresentation of women on both the first and the second Southern Baptist Convention task forces addressing sexual abuse, the new president of the convention issued a video explaining…
Where are the women on the SBC’s first and second sexual abuse task forces?
The newest task force appointed to address sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention shares one key thing in common with the first Sexual Abuse Task Force that wrapped up its work this summer: Only two women are represented on…
After the Guidepost report, we need to know more about FBC Woodstock’s City of Refuge and NAMB’s support for it: Was ‘moral failures’ code for sexual abuse?
This May, the Southern Baptist Convention felt shockwaves when a nearly 300-page report was published by a third-party investigative firm documenting systematic coverups of sexual abuse within the denomination. In the report, former SBC President Johnny Hunt was accused of…
The evil that men do
In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, the Bard suggests that the memories of greatness or good someone has done fade from view far sooner than do the effects of evil done by the same person: “The evil that men do lives after…
Why evangelicals may be fearful of distancing themselves from John MacArthur
Joe Paterno was an iconic figure, loved by college football and the community where he lived. Unfortunately, his career and reputation were tarnished by accusations that Paterno had protected his assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky, who for decades molested children. While…
Not everyone believes there’s a sexual abuse crisis in the SBC
First, Jennifer Lyell had to defend herself against a public misrepresentation of her story of sexual abuse published by Baptist Press; now she’s facing a second public humiliation from critics who believe the Southern Baptist Convention’s sexual abuse investigation is…
Two viruses threaten the life of the Southern Baptist Convention: Male hierarchy and dominion theology
There is most likely a virus inside your body right now. Probably even a few. These latent viruses are tiny squatters that call our bodies home. Some of the more well-known latent viruses inhabit as much as 80% to 90%…
Progress on sexual abuse in the SBC? Not so fast
As Russian tanks, troops and bombs poured into Ukraine, imagine if President Joe Biden had announced to the world: “This is shocking. We pledge to help Ukrainians save their lives and freedom for one year. Next year, though, we may…
There are many more sexual abuse stories to be told from the SBC, and this is one of them
Note: The following opinion piece includes detailed descriptions of sexual assault. These past two weeks have been, to borrow a phrase from Russell Moore, an “apocalypse” for the Southern Baptist Convention. On May 22, an independent Sexual Abuse Task Force…
What Southern Baptists must do now to address clergy sex abuse
Editor’s note: After this article was published, the SBC Sexual Abuse Task Force pulled its June 1 set of recommendations from the website. Those recommendations eventually were replaced by an updated document June 8 that now exists in the same…