Over the course of the past three years, the messengers from the churches to the Southern Baptist Convention have defeated attempts to place a restrictive ban on women serving as pastors in its affiliated churches, though the denomination's statement of faith, the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, has allowed its credentials committee to sever ties to several churches considered to be in volation of this provision. The difference between this being a committee decision, as opposed to being included in the constitution and bylaws of the denomination is that doing the latter would automatically exclude any church which has, on its staff, a female in the role of a pastor who interprets scripture, teaches, or preaches to the church.
In order to be included in the Constitution, the amendment must pass with a two-thirds majority of the messengers in favor of it at two subsequence convention annual meetings. Mike Law, a Virginia pastor, introduced an amendment three years ago, which passed the first convention, but which failed to get the two thirds approval at the subsequent meeting to be included in the constitution. Juan Sanchez, a Texas pastor, introduced a similar proposal at the following convention meeting, but it, too, failed to get the two thirds majority required to advance. It should be noted that this proposal has been supported by the majority of messengers in attendance, but not enough support has carried it to the two-thirds threshold.
This proposal, made by one of the denomination's self-appointed inner circle, Al Mohler, President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, got 75% of the messenger's votes at a convention being held in Orlando, attended by a relatively small number of messengers, just over 11,000. It's been convention meetings with higher attendance where the two-thirds threshold has been more difficult to meet.
Implications of This Vote Against the Backdrop of the Denomination's Failure to Effectively Deal With a Significant Sexual Abuse Crisis Among Its Clergy
Many messengers were shocked by revelations of significant sexual abuse allegations against church pastors and vocational ministers, including some of its missions personnel and high ranking committee members and trustees, which came out after an expose by the Houston Chronicle in 2019. Many of those who heard the allegations demanded immediate action, and took the responsibility for doing something about it out of the hands of its moribund Executive Committee, placing it with independent investigators.
What resulted, however, was a disgraceful display of antagonism toward the victims, and sympathy for the abusers. Ultimately, in spite of messenger directives, the bureaucrats failed to do anything at all to resolve the crisis, and got away with the inaction as interest died down. The fact that a so-called Christian denomination not only took no meaningful action to prevent further abuse, but also did not reach out to provide any kind of ministry to the victims, and treated them as if it was their fault, is a disgraceful testimony to the huge gap which exists between the presence of the Spirit of God and the Southern Baptist Convention.
"Ichabod" is written over the door of the Southern Baptist Convention as a result of their handling of this crisis.
The anti-woman stance of this denomination is clearly present in their way of handling this issue. Many of those who attacked victims claimed that they were evil, intent on ruining the ministry of many "good" men. This is an attitude and a culture that emerges from being completely misinformed theologically and doctrinally. The inherent belief is that women are inferior to men, in spite of scripture which clearly teaches otherwise. And this comes directly out of the fundamentalist theology that is now widely accepted among Southern Baptists, based on the belief that the whole of the 66 books of the Protestant Bible are equally inspired and equally authoritative because it is inerrant and infallible in its original autographs.
So what is known as the doctrine of Biblical Inerrancy, a fundamentalist invention out of 19th century ignorance, codified by the Southern Baptist Convention in its doctrinal statement known as the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 is the underlying support for the second-class treatment women get in the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention, enforced by ecclesiastical authority of a denomination that goes against the foundational beliefs expressed in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Equating the Old Testament covenant with the Gospel is a grave theological error that distorts Christianity, and leads to beliefs and practices that are completely out of line with what Jesus revealed.
Christian Nationalism is the Vehicle Which Helps This Backward-Looking False Theology Work Its Way Into Right Wing Politics
White supremacy, the subservience of people of dark colored skin, goes hand in hand with the subjugation and inferior status of women. It's this same fundamentalism, based on the literal interpretation of scripture that is not equally inspired, nor complete in its prophetic revelation, from which the idea that white Europeans have been destined by God to rule the world and were gifted with the resources of the untouched North American continent in order to do so.
On the surface, the SBC has had to accept the presence of blacks in pastoral ministry, in leadership, as members of trustee boards and committees, though not nearly in the percentages of numbers that actually exist within the denomination. But they've been able to hold down the rise of women in leadership, and claim literal interpretations of verses taken out of context in support. There are actually just three specific references in the New Testament to which these people refer in order to claim that "the Bible" instructs churches against the practice of calling women to be pastors, the "episkopos" as described in I Timothy 3:1.
One of the long time, defacto leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, the now deceased Paul Pressler, considered one of the two "architects of the Conservtative Resurgence," took on the responsibility of linking the denomination to Republican partisan politics. If there was any doubt at all as to the real intention of this movement, disguised as "theological reform" when it started in 1979, Pressler's work, and the place where the denomination has ended up, has removed it. While his partner, Paige Patterson, began working to make sure trustees of the six theological seminaries were hard line fundamentalists, who removed good, solid professors, replacing them with like minded Bible college flunkies, Pressler, a former Texas Appeals Court Justice and a Republican party inner-circle operative, used his executive committee influence to make the SBC a right wing political action committee.
Pressler is a good example of how this denomination is willing to ignore the principles of the Christian gospel in order to gain the political power and leverage it wants. This "architect of the Conservative resurgence" and long term unelected influence and leader in the SBC had a record of grooming teenaged boys under his influence, some from a church where he served as a youth pastor, others from contact with him through his law practice, and sexually abusing them. This was known by his church, First Baptist Church of Houston, Texas, after a letter from their leadership surfaced, removing him from his positions in the church and warning that if word of his sexual abuse got out, it could potentially destroy the cause, which they obviously valued over doing the right thing.
Isn't that a familiar sounding theme among conservative politics these days.
The Importance of Understanding How This Religious-Political Connection Works
I think it is vitally important for those who are working hard to oppose the fascist dictatorial tendencies of the sitting President to understand exactly how right wing conservative Evangelicalism works. Undermining this pseudo-Christian cult is a solid strategy in providing the kind of opposition necessary to prevent further damage and to motivate voters to get to the polls and make sure anything and anyone associated with Trump is defeated.
There are those who think it is futile to try and provide a reasonable argument for people to get out of this right wing religious-political mess, but I disagree. In the decade since Trump first ran for the Presidency, the Southern Baptist Convention has lost just over four million members, 25% of what it had in 2016, and has seen a 30% decline in the weekly attendance at its affiliated churches. Something is causing this massive exodus, and it is sure not the weak excuses being offered by its apologists. I tend to think that the sincere Christians among their ranks, those with a deep understanding of scripture, and Christian history, and the ability to discern the cultural and historical contexts of Christian faith and practice are deciding to get as far away from an apoostacy
There is, in fact, a growing group of podcasters and bloggers who are pointing out the grave theological errors of the SBC and their impact, and are showing people how it is possible to be a practicing Christian and an American Patriot and a Democrat at the same time, three representations of religious and political identity that are fully compatible with each other.
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