Unlike many who read Baptist News Global, I hold no nostalgic memories and feelings for the Southern Baptist Convention. I regard the SBC as an institution conceived, birthed and used to associate the gospel of Jesus with white supremacy from…
SBC’s legal counsel quits in protest of Executive Committee waiving privilege in sexual abuse investigation
One week after the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee voted to follow the will of convention messengers over the advice of its legal counsel and waive attorney-client privilege for a sexual abuse investigation, its longtime legal counsel gave notice it…
Decent men of faith and sexual abuse
Before I get into this piece any further, let me admit that decency is a pretty low bar for people of faith. I find that in most churches (I cannot speak for synagogues or temples or mosques), the bar is generally set…
To some, the latest SBC divide over sexual abuse investigation pits what’s morally right against what’s legally prudent
Sometimes the morally right thing to do is not the legally prudent thing to do. Such is the dilemma facing the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee as it meets Tuesday, Oct. 5, to vote — for the third time —…
Who are the key players behind the SBC Executive Committee’s response to a sexual abuse investigation?
The present crisis within the Southern Baptist Convention over how to handle allegations of sexual abuse isn’t Ronnie Floyd’s first experience responding to such sensitive matters. Before taking the helm of the SBC’s powerful Executive Committee, Floyd was pastor of…
New details emerge about how SBC Executive Committee wants to control the sexual abuse investigation, as outrage mounts among other Southern Baptist leaders
Less than a day after the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee again declined to follow the explicit request of convention messengers, the resulting governance meltdown spread to the leadership of other agencies who fear they will lose funding from SBC…
SBC Executive Committee declines for a second time to comply with will of convention messengers on sexual abuse investigation
For the second time in a week, members of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee have defied the will of the SBC in annual session — previously considered the final authority in governance — by refusing to waive attorney-client privilege…
Social work leader Diana Garland’s legacy steers her children toward justice and mercy
Note: This story includes content about sexual abuse. Siblings Sarah and John Garland share an intangible inheritance from their late mother that transcends kinship. Sarah, a journalist, and John, a pastor, say their mother, Diana Garland, a Baptist social work…
Southern Baptists, power and the continuum of sexual violence
Note to readers: This article includes content related to sexual abuse and violence against women. The Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention has found yet another way to retraumatize survivors of clergy abuse and accentuate the convention’s long history…