#MeToo in spotlight as Southern Baptists leaders meet in Dallas
The Southern DALLAS — Baptist Convention opened its annual national meeting Tuesday in an anxious mood as the denomination’s all-male leadership grappled with the fallout of multiple sexual misconduct cases. One order of business was a draft resolution co-signed by dozens of SBC leaders calling on the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. to repudiate any rhetoric or behavior that dishonors women. The resolution denounces those who commit or cover up such actions, and urges congregations and ministers to abide by all laws mandating the reporting of sexual abuse and assault. Two other proposed motions also urged steps to strengthen protections against sexual predators. In a late addition to the program, the SBC announced that Vice President Mike Pence would address the meeting today. In Tuesday’s opening session, a delegate from Virginia, Garrett Kell, sought to cancel Pence’s address and replace it with a time of prayer, but the motion was defeated. The agenda in Dallas did not include any reconsideration of the SBC’s doctrine of “complementarianism,” which espouses male leadership in the home and in the church and says a wife “is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband.” However, the pastor elected Tuesday as the SBC’s new president — J.D. Greear — is among numerous SBC leaders saying the doctrine needs to be observed in a way that’s respectful of women and encourages them to play an active role in church affairs. Greear, 45, a megachurch pastor from North Carolina who sometimes preaches in jeans and shirts with no sport coat, won about 69 percent of the votes in his election victory over former seminary president Ken Hemphill, 70. As the two-day meeting began, about two dozen protesters gathered across the street from the convention center, drawing attention to abuse against women. The protesters called for the creation of a database identifying pastors accused of sexual abuse and misconduct. They also want pastors and seminarians to receive training on how to respond to sexual abuse and domestic violence. Paige Patterson, the central figure in the most prominent of the SBC’s #MeToo cases, had been scheduled to deliver the featured sermon at the national meeting. However, he withdrew from that role Friday, heeding a request from other SBC leaders. Patterson was recently dismissed as president Southof western Baptist Theological Seminary in Texas because of his response to two rape allegations made years apart by students. He also was accused of making improper remarks about a teenage girl’s body and contending that women who are in abusive relationships should almost always stay with their husbands. SBC leaders say there are many more cases — adding up to a humiliating debacle for the 15.2 million-member denomination. “The avalanche of sexual misconduct that has come to light in recent weeks is almost too much to bear,” the Rev. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote in a recent blog post. In addition to its debates over gender roles, the SBC has struggled to overcome its history as a denomination formed in defense of slaveholders.