Southern Baptists, Y'all! 2021 Convention

[Howl]

The Southern Baptist Convention, held every two years, will be in Dallas next week and things are heating up. 

Where the SBC will stand on  Critical Race Theory is a huge issue, women preaching, and on and on.  The various men running for president reflect the various factions and whether the SBC moves further crazy right, relatively "moderate" or (not likely) a bit to the left. 

This NYT article, which doesn't seem to be behind a paywall, covers the issues currently raging among members. 

‘Take the Ship’: Conservatives Aim to Commandeer Southern Baptists

I hope this thread will also function as a catchall for Baptist issues, scandals and general crazy. 

 

Edited June 13, 2021 by Coconut Flan

[Columbia]

1 hour ago, Howl said:

Where the SBC will stand on  Critical Race Theory is a huge issue, women preaching, and on and on.  The various men running for president reflect the various factions and whether the SBC moves further crazy right, relatively "moderate" or (not likely) a bit to the left. 

Also, if their leadership will stop sitting on their hands and do something about the abuse rampant through their churches. 
 

I hope so, but I can’t imagine it. Challenges the good ol’ boys club too much. 

[Howl]

2 hours ago, Columbia said:

if their leadership will stop sitting on their hands and do something about the abuse rampant through their churches. 

Spiritual/sexual/emotional abuse in SBC churches was front and center at the last convention and nothing much has changed, per the NYT article, and also according to the staggering number of victims whose churches made their suffering worse. 

[Becky]

It is absolutely disgraceful and disgusting that any organization, in the year 2021, is debating whether or not women deserve to be fully functioning members with all associated rights and responsibilities, or whether they deserve protection from abuse.  

[hoipolloi]

The SBC is so obviously rotting from the head down. Whether or not voting members can see this is another question. Guessing they won't but perhaps some will eventually if enough members & churches leave and -- most importantly -- quit sending money to the mother ship.

Besides the NYT, the WaPo has been following the pre-convention turmoil as well. For good commentary & an overview go to the Wartburg Watch. No paywall there. Also, the Straight White American Jesus podcast interviewed religion reporter Jonathan Krohn. Formerly a born-and-raised SBC himself, he provided some context to the convention & will be attending and reporting from it this week. 

 

[Destiny]

4 hours ago, Howl said:

Spiritual/sexual/emotional abuse in SBC churches was front and center at the last convention and nothing much has changed, per the NYT article, and also according to the staggering number of victims whose churches made their suffering worse. 

I clicked on the NYT article, and was sure I'd suffered a stroke or something when the first thing I read said that people think the SBC had drifted too far LEFT. I reread four times, certain my brain was processing wrong and it actually said right. 

Alas, no. 

[hoipolloi]

A statement from survivors of sexual abuse in SBC churches.

 

[Cults-r-us]

6 hours ago, Becky said:

It is absolutely disgraceful and disgusting that any organization, in the year 2021, is debating whether or not women deserve to be fully functioning members with all associated rights and responsibilities, or whether they deserve protection from abuse.  

Good on Beth moore and Russell D. moore for bailing.

[Howl]

related -- 10 major SBC issues

Unroll of 10-point twitter thread for non-twitterati: FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS RALLY 2021 -- 10 major SBC-related issues

 

[Antipatriarch]

15 hours ago, hoipolloi said:

A statement from survivors of sexual abuse in SBC churches.

#4 (unredacted report made public) is really important, IMO. That will reveal whether this really was an independent investigation aimed at uncovering the truth, or whether it was for show -- something they could spin to say things aren't that bad, trust us we're fixing it, etc. -- more stalling in the hopes that people forget and it fades away.

The leaked Russell Moore letters (coming right before this convention kicked off) have really stirred the pot. They may have killed Mike Stone's bid for president... but Al Mohler will not be any better. I think revealing the truth of secret racism and how they've mishandled abuse, combined with enough of the rank and file getting really mad about it, is the only hope for change. I'm not holding my breath.

[Columbia]

Well, the SBC Executive Committee just voted down a motion to even discuss a motion calling for an independent investigation into sexual abuse and the Executive Committee. 
 

Im sure someone will bring the motion to the floor in tomorrow’s meeting. But clearly the EC is hiding something. 

[EyesOpen]

Yeah nothing is going to change. So glad I peace’d out of that mess years ago.

[Antipatriarch]

Hypocrites.

Reformed theology is important, anti-LGBTQ is important, only men as pastors is important, complementarianism is important. We'll "disfellowship" your church if you cross us on those things, or at the very least, bad-mouth you and intimidate you and remove your power and hopefully you'll give up and leave.

But racism isn't important. Sexual abuse of children isn't important. Can't do anything that'll erode local church autonomy! Can't do anything that might expose what the leadership says in private, where the sheep can't hear it! Can't do an investigation that might reveal we made mistakes, have to apologize, and have to actually change our ways!

[Howl]

Ed Litton has been elected as new president of the SBC.  I'll leave it up to the rest of y'all the clarify the implications of this particular choice. 

[Columbia]

11 minutes ago, Howl said:

Ed Litton has been elected as new president of the SBC.  I'll leave it up to the rest of y'all the clarify the implications of this particular choice. 

To the best of my understanding, he’s the one candidate who actually cared about addressing racism and sexual abuse in the SBC. I hope that he follows through with it. 

[Antipatriarch]

11 hours ago, Howl said:

Ed Litton has been elected as new president of the SBC.  I'll leave it up to the rest of y'all the clarify the implications of this particular choice. 

There's a good article by Bob Smietana up on Julie Roys' site. Litton seems like a decent guy, certainly better than the alternatives. The article gives the vote breakdown: In the first round, Stone and Litton each got about 1/3, and Mohler only got about 1/4.

But the old guard is not going to go away. The article has this:

Quote

The close vote, however, with Litton only winning a majority by 2%, highlighted the deep divide within the denomination, gave some conservatives hope. Stone supporter Rod D. Martin, noted in a tweet after the results were announced, “We didn’t win. But this result shows we can.”

 

[Howl]

Quote

Stone supporter Rod D. Martin, noted in a tweet after the results were announced, “We didn’t win. But this result shows we can.”

This is so Trumpian.  Over half of their members voted for the most centrist candidate with a long history of race reconciliation and their take is not to address the fact that this is now the SBC, but instead start planning to crush them in two years...because f**k them, right?

I'll predict at least one faction splintering off the SBC in the relatively near future. 

Being a moderate in the SBC is relative: 

Quote

He [Ed Litton] described himself as complementarian in theology, but said he was proud to have had Kathy Litton help him teach a sermon series on marriage — a point of contention for some critics, who believe the Bible forbids women from preaching in church.

Sigh. 

[47of74]

SBC has elected a new President 

Quote

Nashville — The Southern Baptist Convention tamped down a push from the right at its largest meeting in decades on Tuesday, electing a new president who has worked to bridge racial divides in the church and defeating an effort to make an issue of critical race theory.

Ed Litton, a pastor from Alabama, won 52% of the vote in a runoff against Mike Stone, a Georgia pastor backed by a new group called the Conservative Baptist Network that has sought to move the already-conservative denomination further right.

Litton, who is white, was nominated by Fred Luter, the only Black pastor to serve as president of the United States' largest Protestant denomination. Luter praised Litton's commitment to racial reconciliation and said he has dealt compassionately with the issue of sexual abuse within SBC churches, another hot-button subject at the gathering of more than 15,000 church representatives.

Surprised they didn’t try to anoint fuck face their President. 

Edited June 17, 2021 by 47of74
Change title

[Howl]

@47of74, thank you for updating the title of the thread! 

From the Roys Report: 

Red Flags Surface About Firm Hired to Investigate SBC’s Handling of Abuse

Quote

The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is taking bold new steps to address its alleged mishandling of abuse, and yesterday voted to set up a task force to deal with the issue.

So, all good? But then there's this, because these people just can't seem to get it right. 

Quote

a leading abuse advocate is raising serious concerns about the firm the SBC Executive Committee has hired to investigate abuse issues—Guidepost Solutions.

 

Edited June 21, 2021 by Howl

[Jasmar]

Yeah, they can’t seem to get it right because they don’t want to. They just want to handwave away decades of (continuing) abuse and get back to fleecing the sheep. Not that you didn’t know that.

[Marmion]

I tend to doubt that any meaningful change will be possible within the Southern Baptist Convention , given how the fundamentalists have totally taken over , and suppressed any dissenting candidates , according to these videos I have watched , which details how the hardliners successfully plotted to seize power .  

Spoiler

 

 

Spoiler

 

 I feel that any so called " moderates" would be comparable to what I have read about the reformists in Iran . As this article illustrates , there are no significant differences .  https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2019/12/23/the-irrelevance-of-irans-reformists/   The same could arguably be said about the SBC , that as this opinion piece attests ,  any actions taken to appease the concerns of critics will likely just be superficial .   https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/17/opinions/southern-baptist-convention-litton-conservative-race-butler-bass/index.html

[Howl]

 

[Howl]

 

[47of74]

9 minutes ago, Howl said:

 

I have a hard time seeing the SBC as anything other than a wholly owned subsidiary of the GQP.  There are people who are genuine in their faith in the SBC but on the whole the denomination seems to exist not to better humankind but to dominate and control other human beings. 

[Howl]

4 hours ago, 47of74 said:

but on the whole the denomination seems to exist not to better humankind but to dominate and control other human beings women

Fixed it for ya or at least it seems that way.