Bad news continued for a Southern Baptist Convention spotlighted in recent months by major newspapers for out-of-control sexual abuse with Monday’s arrest of a Louisiana pastor accused of raping an 11-year-old girl over a two-year period.
Camp staffer, pastor and former intern face charges amid Southern Baptist Convention abuse crisis
LifeWay Christian Resources revealed in a statement June 14 the arrest of a summer staff worker accused of molesting two children attending a church camp in Arizona. Noah John Paradis, 19, is listed as an inmate at the Navajo County…
SBC resolution challenges Christians who self-identify as gay
The Southern Baptist Convention is now on record discouraging use of the term “gay Christian” to describe believers who experience same-sex attraction but choose celibacy because they believe the Bible permits sex only between a man and woman in the context of marriage.
SBC president calls on churches to unite against sexual abuse
Elected by acclamation to a second one-year term as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, North Carolina pastor J.D. Greear pledged June 12 to continue efforts to curtail sexual abuse in the nation’s second largest faith group behind Roman Catholics.
Abuse victim advocates pledge to keep fighting for reform in the Southern Baptist Convention
While Southern Baptist Convention messengers inside the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex took first steps to punish churches that enable sexual abuse, survivors relegated to a sidewalk outside the meeting hall demanded a system to make it harder for clergy predators to move from church to church.
Amended lawsuit says SBC doing too little, too late, to prevent sexual abuse of children
A motion filed June 3 in a Virginia court says the Southern Baptist Convention is culpable in a multi-million dollar sexual abuse lawsuit against a member church.
Sexual abuse in the SBC: what will it take to prompt meaningful action?
As Southern Baptists convene in Birmingham, we ask again: what will it take for denominational leaders to take meaningful action on clergy sexual abuse and the incalculable harm done to so many lives? Recent proposals are bare half-measures at best, with too many unknowns and too little transparency.
Abuse survivors take center stage in lead up to next week’s Southern Baptist Convention
The Southern Baptist Convention meets next week after revelations of widespread stories of sexual abuse and coverup in a six-part series of investigative reports by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News.
Petition demanding Southern Baptist seminary pay reparations collecting signatures online
Former faculty members at a Southern Baptist Convention seminary and Baptist professors at other schools joined a call urging financial reparations to American descendants of slavery in a petition now collecting signatures on change.org.
Baptist professor quits over comments made in chapel about women’s bodies
A Louisiana College professor resigned in protest in February, claiming administrators at the Baptist school tried to suppress criticism of a chapel speaker for using sexualized imagery and leaving the impression that a woman’s value is measured by her physical appearance and sexual history.
Southern Baptist baptisms at lowest level in 74 years
In 2018 the Southern Baptist Convention recorded the fewest baptisms in a year since World War II, according to statistics released last week by LifeWay Christian Resources.
SBC urged to ‘reset spiritually and strategically’ amid continuing declines
There were areas of improvement, too, including an $82-million increase in giving from 2017 to 2018, and a rise in new churches in four states.