#Southern Baptist Convention

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

The editor in chief of Christianity Today is warning that evangelical Christianity is moving too far to the right, to the point that even Jesus’s teachings are considered “weak” now.

Russell Moore resigned from the Southern Baptist Convention in 2021, after years of being at odds with other evangelical leaders. Specifically, Moore openly criticized Donald Trump, whom many evangelical Christians embraced. Moore also criticized the Southern Baptist Convention’s response to a sexual abuse crisis and increasing tolerance for white nationalism in the community.

Now he thinks his religion is in crisis.

Moore told NPR in an interview released Tuesday that multiple pastors had told him they would quote the Sermon on the Mount, specifically the part that says to “turn the other cheek,” when preaching. Someone would come up after the service and ask, “Where did you get those liberal talking points?”

“What was alarming to me is that in most of these scenarios, when the pastor would say, ‘I’m literally quoting Jesus Christ,’ the response would not be, ‘I apologize.’ The response would be, ‘Yes, but that doesn’t work anymore. That’s weak,’” Moore said. “When we get to the point where the teachings of Jesus himself are seen as subversive to us, then we’re in a crisis.”

Moore said he thinks a large part of the issue is how divisive U.S. politics are, which is now spilling over into the church. He pointed to how a lot of issues are “packaged in terms of existential threat,” leading to the belief among everyone, not just evangelical Christians, that “desperate times call for desperate measures.”

It makes sense, then, that evangelical Christians would embrace Trump, who portrayed himself as the answer to many of those supposed existential threats. Trump both campaigned and governed on a largely evangelical Christian platform. He moved the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem; he cracked down on immigration from majority-Muslim countries; and he appointed multiple conservative judges, including to the Supreme Court, which has swung sharply right.

He made good on his anti-abortion promises when the high court removed the nationwide right to the procedure in June. Many LGBTQ protections were rolled back under his watch, and during the June 2020 protests over George Floyd’s murder by police, he tear-gassed demonstrators so he could take a heavily posed picture with a Bible in front of St. John’s Church near the White House.

And as Trump swings ever further right, it makes sense that people who believe he will solve their problems will follow blindly.

[baptist-denominations-poll]

Canadian National Baptist Convention

Southern Baptist Convention

Image from: Cambodian Baptist Fellowship, Mesa, Arizona (SBC)

[petervintonjr]

Something to keep in mind in the coming weeks when the SBC crowd and assorted other evangelicals mobilize their p.r. people and start pushing back with the "but the kids were wearing..." excuse.

(Incidentally if you're not following "feminist next door" on Twitter, please seriously consider doing so. I have learned a great deal from her insights and I am not the smug self-congratulatory "enlightened" guy I once credited myself. She is going to make you uncomfortable. Read and study her posts anyway.)

[the-writer-is-always-write]

My fellow Americans, especially those in southern, conservative, and/or evangelical circles, should know that yesterday (May 22, 2022) the Southern Baptist Convention released a massive report following an independent investigation into their handling of sex abuse allegations.

(For those who are interested in the full report, you can find a link at the bottom of this webpage.)

A short summary of important findings:

The SBC regularly dismissed allegations of sexual abuse from members of churches and ministries within their organization. Oftentimes the victims/reporters were aware of abusers still working in both SBC and non-SBC churches and ministries, yet SBC officers took little or no action to investigate or suggest the removal of these abusers.

Victims were often treated with disrespect and viewed as crazy conspiracists by the high-ups in the SBC. August Boto, who served as interim president, said that the recent focus on sexual abuse within the church was a "satanic scheme" that was meant to distract the organization from its real purposes. Notable victims include Jennifer Lyell and Christa Brown, whose experiences are told at length in the report.

SBC officers were mostly concerned about public image and "ascending liability" if they tried to mediate or take action against cases of sexual abuse within local churches or associations.

Multiple SBC officers (including several presidents) were found to have protected and supported abusers, while former President Johnny Hunt was credibly accused of assaulting the wife of another pastor at his church in Georgia.

The Credentials Committee that was formed in 2019 to handle submissions regarding sex abuse in SBC-affiliated churches was drastically disorganized, difficult for victims to locate, and lacked adequate procedures and standards to formulate their inquiries and decisions. Additionally, members of the CC acknowledged that they felt ill-equipped to discuss traumatic experiences with victims.

SBC officers rejected the idea of a database for accused and convicted offenders, yet several high-up officers on the Executive Committee compiled significant data between 2008 and 2021 that documented over 700 allegations of sex abuse within both SBC and non-SBC churches and ministries.

The findings from this investigation are devastating and make it all the more understandable why people are becoming so disillusioned with the church. The report, however, left a long list of solutions/recommendations starting on pg. 159 that are very informative in terms of giving practical steps that the organization (and others like it) can take to improve their processes. These changes are feasible and will go a long way to ensure that the environment of organizations like SBC will shift away from centuries of silence to a position of compassion and advocacy for those who have suffered abuse.

As one article puts it, "That’s more than a crisis. It’s even more than just a crime. It’s blasphemy. And anyone who cares about heaven ought to be mad as hell."

[posttexasstressdisorder]

I can say this did go on.  My mother used to talk about “the preacher they ran out of town, he was so nice, and loved little children”  I was 5 or 6 at the time and the idea of “running a preacher out of town” seemed so odd, I asked her why did they do that?  She just said “Oh, he just loved little children, and would hug them...”  Yeah right. 

A roommate I had in my mid-20s had also been brought up Southern Baptist and his parents were the people who ran the Baptist Childrens’ Home for awhile.  He said he found nude photos of his dad and mom, while they were at the facility.  He verified that the sexual abuse went on, rampantly.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

[officialyourdailyinspiration]

by Tom Ascol | There is no question that the Southern Baptist Convention is facing a moment of reckoning. The SBC is a free association of churches, and trust is its connective tissue. The release of the Guidepost Solutions report on the...