Barely two weeks before Southern Baptists gather in Dallas for their annual meeting, another alleged sexual abuse case — this time involving a former student at a Georgia Baptist university — has surfaced. The story includes the alleged grooming of…
Duane Rollins, who sued Pressler for sexual abuse, dies
Gareld Duane Rollins, whose allegations of abuse by Houston judge Paul Pressler were ignored for decades by leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention, died May 23, according to Robert Downen, the journalist who reported on his case more than anyone…
New Orleans Archdiocese agrees to pay nearly $180M to victims of clergy sexual abuse
The Archdiocese of New Orleans agreed to pay nearly $180 million to victims of clergy sexual abuse under a settlement announced Wednesday, the latest in a string of settlements by the Catholic Church.
SBC annual meeting may be deja vu all over again
Note: For more discussion on the upcoming SBC annual meeting, check out the latest episode of BNG’s podcast “Stuck in the Middle with You.” In less than three weeks, messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting will descend…
SBC megachurch in Houston settles abuse lawsuit out of court
Champion Forest Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist megachurch in Houston, has settled with “strict confidentiality” a lawsuit alleging church and denominational leadership’s complicity in the sexual misconduct of former youth pastor Timothy Jeltema. Three women, anonymously referred to as “Jane…
New Law Requires Priests to Break Seal of Confession to Report Child Abuse
The secrecy of the confessional in the Roman Catholic Church is so sacrosanct that any priest who violates it is automatically excommunicated.
SBC clergy sex abuse crisis doesn’t stem from ‘the Sexual Revolution’
Sexual abuse is “the rotten fruit of the Sexual Revolution,” says Jeff Dalrymple, director of the Southern Baptist Convention’s newly created Sexual Abuse Prevention and Response department, which operates under the SBC Executive Committee. In two Baptist Press columns published…
Jane Roe case against Patterson and Southwestern will go to trial now
One key portion of Jane Roe’s defamation case against Paige Patterson and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary will go to trial, according to the latest filings in the federal case. In February, the Texas Supreme Court ruled on two questions of…
Elon Musk dismantles evangelical ‘family values’
“Family values” have returned to eugenics, the practice of selective breeding of humans to improve their genetic composition. The new champion of eugenics, now known as the pro-natalist or genetic-determinist movement, is Elon Musk. “Family values,” a political weapon of…
Arrest of Italian priest for abuse may renew calls for national reckoning
An Italian priest has been placed under house arrest on charges of aggravated sexual assault against a minor, while also facing at least five other charges of abuse in other communities said to date from 2011 to 2013.
Judge says sexual abuse cases against San Francisco Archdiocese can go to trial
The cases of two men who allege they were sexually abused as children in Northern California by a now-deceased priest can proceed to trial, a federal judge ruled.
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…