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Southern Baptist Convention

The Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission explains the mess

John Fea   |  July 24, 2024

Today my sympathy goes out to Elizabeth Bristow, the press secretary of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. On Monday she had to send out a press release announcing that ERLC president Brent Leatherwood was fired. On […]

Brent Leatherwood is back as president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.

John Fea   |  July 23, 2024

Last night, Brent Leatherwood was fired as the president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC). Or was he? Today, Leatherwood is back. The latest: So what happened in the last 36 hours or so? On […]

Brent Leatherwood is OUT as head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission

John Fea   |  July 22, 2024

Earlier today, we called your attention to the way the Southern Baptists who were turning on one of there own–ERLC president Brent Leatherwood. Check out that post here. We chronicle this “turning” in excruciating detail. After Joe Biden announced that […]

Evangelical roundup: Members of the Southern Baptist Convention turn on one of their own:

John Fea   |  July 22, 2024

Evangelicals–left, right, and center–have now had a chance to sleep on America’s new political reality. We posted yesterday on their initial reaction to Biden’s withdrawal from the race. Let’s see what they are saying today: President of the Southern Baptist […]

What happens when the “greatest” moment in your denomination’s history was orchestrated by a sexual abuser of boys?

John Fea   |  June 17, 2024

This weekend we learned that Paul Pressler, the lawyer who co-led the conservative resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention and a sexual abuser of boys, passed away at the age of 94. He died on June 7. Baptist News Global […]

The Southern Baptist Convention messengers reject the so-called “Law Amendment”

John Fea   |  June 12, 2024

Today at their annual meeting in Indianapolis the Southern Baptist Convention rejected an amendment that would change the denomination’s constitution to clarify that the only kind of church in friendly cooperation with the convention is one that “affirms, appoints, or […]

Trump, MAGA Southern Baptists, and friends will meet in an Indianapolis sideshow

John Fea   |  June 7, 2024

It is not an official Southern Baptist Convention event, but while delegates from the largest Protestant denomination in the country meet next week in Indianapolis, some of the most conservative and Trumpy members of the convention will gather in what […]

At least one Southern Baptist congregation might leave the denomination after Albert Moher’s recent opinion piece on the Trump felony conviction:

John Fea   |  June 2, 2024

Earlier this week I said a few things about Albert Mohler essay on Donald Trump’s 34 felony convictions. You may recall his piece–it is the one in which Mohler, the president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, calls Joe […]

Southern Baptists debate an amendment that “affirms, appoints, or employs only men as any kind of pastor or elder…”

John Fea   |  May 24, 2024

There is always drama in the weeks before the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting. This time it is over the so-called “Law Amendment.” Here is Heath Lambert, pastor of First Baptist Church–Jacksonville, with some background: The Law Amendment is one […]

The Southern Baptist Convention: Who’s in charge?

John Fea   |  October 31, 2023

We covered the sexual assault amicus brief controversy here and here for those who need to get up to speed. The disarray in the Southern Baptist Convention reached new “heights” this week, prompting one Virginia pastor to ask “who’s driving […]

Bart Barber, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention, admits that his approval of the Kentucky sexual abuse amicus brief was a “mistake”

John Fea   |  October 30, 2023

We covered this story yesterday. It doesn’t look for the Southern Baptist Convention, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, or SBTS president Albert Mohler. Here is Barber’s statement: Last week a reporter published a story about an amicus curia brief that the […]

Rick Warren on the SBC’s Executive Committee & Albert Mohler’s seminary: “They have no intention of helping victims of the sexual abuse they covered up.”

John Fea   |  October 29, 2023

Here is Jeremy Gray at Alabama.Com: The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the Kentucky State Supreme Court arguing an expanded child abuse law should not allow claims to be brought against “non-perpetrators” such as religious organizations, the Louisville […]

Fern Creek Baptist Church stands by its female pastor

John Fea   |  August 22, 2023

Some of you may remember that the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) ousted Fern Creek Baptist Church earlier this year because the church had a female pastor. The Louisville congregation, located in the same city as Albert Mohler’s complementarian Southern Baptist […]

Here’s the latest Southern Baptist controversy

John Fea   |  August 18, 2023

I’ll let religion journalist Bob Smietana explain: Willie McLaurin, the acting president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, resigned suddenly on Thursday after admitting he had falsified his rĂ©sumĂ©. “While considering McLaurin as a candidate for Floyd’s permanent replacement, […]

Did the Rick Warren-Saddleback controversy at the SBC Annual Meeting detract attention from abuse reform?

John Fea   |  June 15, 2023

Here is Kate Shellnut at Christianity Today: The issue that once dominated Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) annual meetings—sexual abuse in churches—almost receded into the background at this year’s gathering, which was overrun by debates around women serving as pastors. Only […]

What happened on day 1 of the 2023 Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting?

John Fea   |  June 13, 2023

Some of the best religion reporters in the business are in New Orleans this week. Here is what they have to say about what happened on the first day of the meeting. These tweets are (roughly) in chronological order (morning […]

How Charles Stanley and the Southern Baptists handled the media

John Fea   |  April 24, 2023

Charles Stanley died last week. He was the senior pastor of Atlanta Baptist Church for nearly half a century, a television preacher, and a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Over at Get Religion, veteran religion journalist Terry Mattingly […]

Southern Baptists give Saddleback the boot. What are people saying?

John Fea   |  February 21, 2023

Here is the Associated Press: The Southern Baptist Convention on Tuesday ousted its second-largest congregation — Saddleback Church, the renowned California megachurch founded by pastor and best-selling author Rick Warren â€” for having a woman pastor. The vote by the convention’s Executive Committee […]

“Turns out the Roman Catholic Church has nothing on the Southern Baptists when it comes to covering up sexual misconduct”

John Fea   |  May 27, 2022

Randall Balmer, a Dartmouth religion professor and one of the country’s most prominent religious observers, addresses the Southern Baptist sexual abuse report. Here is a taste of his piece at the Los-Angeles Times: In an origin story oft-repeated in SBC circles, […]

The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee’s third-party abuse investigation report was just released. It’s horrifying.

John Fea   |  May 22, 2022

Here is Kate Shellnut at Christianity Today: Armed with a secret list of more than 700 abusive pastors, Southern Baptist leaders chose to protect the denomination from lawsuits rather than protect the people in their churches from further abuse. Survivors, […]

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