Southern Baptists in own Me Too crisis
Denomination will grapple with issues of mistreatment at annual meeting
When members of the Southern Baptist Convention gather in Dallas this week for their annual meeting, they will grapple with the mistreatment of women within the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.
And the two-day event, which begins Tuesday, could prove to be a pivotal moment in Southern Baptist life given the recent ousting of Paige Patterson from a Texas seminary over accusations that he ignored or failed to report abuse of women or students.
Other church leaders also have fallen, illustrating that it is not just a Hollywood or a media problem.
The April resignation of Bill Hybels, founder and senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in Illinois, is one example, said Peter Wehner, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. After accusations of improper conduct and abuse of power, Hybels stepped down.
Memphis megachurch pastor Andy Savage is another example, said Wehner. Savage stepped down in March after admitting to a sexual encounter with a high school student years earlier.
In the Patterson case, pushback started mounting this spring against the major Southern Baptist figure for his past counsel to abused women and crude remarks about a teenage girl’s appearance. Thousands of Southern Baptist women and their supporters spoke out against his controversial remarks.
But the mishandling of allegations from students who told Patterson they were raped ultimately led to his undoing at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.
Patterson apologized for the harm his past remarks caused, but disputes accusations that he mishandled reports of abuse from women and students. While he continues to have supporters, Patterson has announced he will not be attending the annual meeting.
“My desire is to work toward biblical harmony at our annual meeting,” Pat- terson said in a Friday letter to Southern Baptists. “Many messengers have implored me to carry out this assignment, but this convention is not about me, and I have every confidence that this decision is best and right.”
Wehner, an evangelical Christian who served in the previous three Republican administrations, thinks Southern Baptists have a great opportunity to start addressing issues raised by the Patterson controversy.
“There’s no quick path to fixing this. It was a lot of years in the making,” Wehner said. “But they can accelerate the process of repair and healing if they do and say the right things.”
At least two pre-meeting panels Monday will tackle the treatment of women and abuse in church, and a midday rally is planned for Tuesday.
Protest organizers, who say they are backed by Southern Baptists and others, are calling for women to be respected and honored within the denomination. They also want a clergy sex offender registry created and mandatory training for pastors and seminaries on domestic abuse and sexual assault.
Southern Baptists in attendance may have the chance to vote on making a statement about women in the church, but that will be determined by the resolutions committee.
Pastor Dean Inserra, who leads City Church in Tallahassee, thinks a statement from the convention is necessary given the weeks of turmoil surrounding Patterson. But resolutions are not enough, he said.
“I think it begins by refusing to be in denial that there’s a serious problem,” Inserra said. “As a convention as a whole, there’s a culture problem.”
“There’s no quick path to fixing this. It was a lot of years in the making. But they can accelerate the process of repair and healing if they do and say the right things.”
Peter Wehner Senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center