Far Right wing political influences holding back Southern Baptist "progress" on clergy sexual abuse

[lees1975]

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2023/06/abuse-survivor-says-not-even-minimum.html

Dealing with a sexual abuse scandal by clergy and denominational leaders that was exposed in a 2019 investigation by The Houston Chronicle, and The San Antonio Express-News, Southern Baptists have made little progress, according to a long-time survivor who has advocated and pushed the denomination to take steps to prevent sexual abuse by its pastors and church staff members for years.

Instead, the headlines made by the SBC at its 2023 annual meeting in New Orleans were about kicking out churches with female pastoral staff, including its largest, most evangelistic church, Saddleback Valley, in Orange County, Caiifornia. The convention did approve a database which will incude the names of pastors and church staff who have been convicted or "credibly accused" of abuse but the abuse survivor in this case, Christa Brown, an attorney who runs a website called "Stop Baptist Predators", says that is less than acceptable minimum progress.

The failure to make progress on sexual abuse has been accompanied by public pushback and accusations against several of the women who reported abuse in high-profile cases, and a general attitude among some Southern Baptists that this is some kind of satanic attack designed to push a feminist agenda into the denomination. The pushback against abuse victims, the foot dragging on making real progress in establishing a data base and the determination to expel churches with women serving in pastoral ministry roles is all a sign of the influence of far right wing politics which is corrupting the denomination from within, carrying it away from a mission and purpose centered on the gospel message of Jesus Christ. Racism is also a factor wihin the convention, as there has been pushback against what turned out to be a deflection of a far right wing resolution proposed by some messengers at its 2019 meeting. Known as Resolution 9, this resolution re-wrote one on Critical Race Theory that was full of false narratives, misinformation and conspiracy theories that would have made a Christian denomination a liar if it had passed. The deflection was due to the work of several African American pastors and committee members who turned it back and re-wrote it. So far, attempts to undo Resolution 9 have been turned back.

[ret5hd]

1. Wow...that's surprising for a RELIGION...

who’s very EXISTENCE was based on keeping people SLAVES!!!

[lees1975]

3. If they could make a big mistake interpreting the Bible in 1845.....

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2023/06/the-southern-baptist-convention-made.html

....and they're using similar methods of interpretation now, it stands to reason they would continue to make mistakes.

There are people in the denomination who are working to try and bring genuine reform. It's interesting, looking at the way that it is structured, in its resemblance to the Confederate States government, loose association, no one assuming responsibility for anything, if something happens it's the other group over there. But when they want to impose some rule on everyone, like "You can't have a woman as a pastor," then boom, they get it done.

What is happening now is a fragmentation of sorts. By their nature, independent, autonomous churches don't tend to join up or form another denomination when they take the off ramp and leave, they just continue where they are, locally. There are former Southern Baptist churches where a majority of the membership is progressive, and where the churches make a real impact in the community, and where the church doesn't function as a PAC, but in which a majority of the members would be freedom loving Democrats. And those are congregations that follow historic Baptist principles, the kind which completely support religious liberty and separation of church and state.

[BOSSHOG]

2. SBC, CPAC. What's the difference?

Consistent theme. We don’t take responsibility for what others claim is bad. We love Jesus. We appreciate and enjoy sex appropriate love making in the privacy of our own (fill in the blank.). We do not sexually abuse anything. Liberals are the bad guys, satin worshipers and pedophiles, just check out our websites. Meanwhile the money rolls in. Malignant cancer comes to mind with our country being the host body.

[keithbvadu2]

4. This is why republicans/pastors use the drag queen/LHGTQ/transgender issue as a distraction from the

Last edited Fri Jun 23, 2023, 11:47 PM - Edit history (1)

This is why republicans/pastors use the drag queen/LHGTQ/transgender issue as a distraction from their own values and morals.