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The largest Protestant denomination in North America, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), officially adopted “critical race theory” and “intersectionality” as “analytical tools” to be used in fostering racial reconciliation in the church. These key drivers of identity politics, however, are more likely to produce racial discord and strike at Christianity itself.Before we get to why, let’s look at how it happened. The convention adopted “Resolution Nine—On Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality” during its annual meeting last week. The resolution instructs Southern Baptists that while these “tools of analysis” can be employed, it must be done in subordination to the...

ASHBURN, Ga. (BP) -- A Georgia pastor has confirmed the termination of a church staff member who allegedly "admitted to assaulting several young people years ago." The pastor also apologized to the Southern Baptist Convention and SBC President J.D. Greear for having "failed my duty as a pastor in not taking action sooner." "My greatest failure during this time has been to the God I serve who gave His Son for me," Pastor Rodney Brown of Trinity Baptist Church in Ashburn, Ga., said March 7 in a statement to Georgia Baptists' Christian Index newsjournal. "This situation has greatly changed my...

Thirty-five years later, Debbie Vasquez's voice trembled as she described her trauma to a group of Southern Baptist leaders. She was 14, she said, when she was first molested by her pastor in Sanger, a tiny prairie town an hour north of Dallas. It was the first of many assaults that Vasquez said destroyed her teenage years and, at 18, left her pregnant by the Southern Baptist pastor, a married man more than a dozen years older. In June 2008, she paid her way to Indianapolis, where she and others asked leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention and its 47,000...

Ross Douthat published a column late last May with the imperious title "The Baptist Apocalypse." Rather than prophetic piece, this seems to have served as a guidebook. Following Douthat's column, a new coterie swept into power in the Southern Baptist Convention during its annual meeting in Dallas (June 12-13). The apocalypse Douthat predicted did not lead to the coming of a lord and savior. What the Baptists got was a changing of the guard. The old guard was white, male, conservative, Southern, and charming. The new guard is white, male, conservative, Southern, and cold. I have interacted with both groups....

America’s largest Protestant group moves to cut ties with the Republican Party and re-engage with mainstream culture. It was immediately clear that change was afoot in Dallas. I’ve attended the annual gatherings of the Southern Baptist Convention dozens of times, but walking around the convention center this week, I was struck by how unfamiliar it all felt. When I was a child, the convention hall was a sea of silver combovers and smelled of denture paste. While the older, more traditionalist crowd was still present in Dallas, the younger, fresh-faced attendees now predominated. “The generational shift happening in the SBC...

A resolution submitted to the Southern Baptist Convention for its annual meeting in Dallas, Texas, has called on the nation's largest Protestant denomination to reject "homosexual identity politics" and state bans on conversion therapy. Titled "On Ministry and Counseling to Lead People from Homosexuality to Heterosexuality," the resolution, among other things, asks the SBC to "offer loving assistance to people suffering from same-sex attraction, so that they may turn from homosexuality to heterosexuality" and to reject "as heresy any claims that God makes people homosexual." "... the movement against so-called 'conversion therapy' poses an immediate threat to Christian obedience to...

First of all, it was done at the wrong time. Dr. Patterson was close to retirement age. They should have waited and allowed him to retire honourably and properly. Second, it was done to the wrong person. He did nothing worthy of being fired. No biblical grounds were given, let alone, seriously considered. There are numerous Christian leaders who have committed sins worthy of discipline. Patterson is not one of them; he hasn't committed any such sins. On the contrary, he has done many things worthy of exaltation. In fact, he is one of the top conservative Christian leaders of...

The board of trustees of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas, announced Wednesday that effective immediately they have cut all ties with the school's former president, Paige Patterson, after new details emerged about his handling of a sexual abuse allegation while he was president at another institution.The announcement comes a week after Patterson resigned from his position as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary after public uproar over comments he made in 2000 about how the Bible sees women and why spousal abuse isn't grounds for divorce.While the seminary did not reveal specific details about the new information shared...

Frank S. Page has resigned as president and chief executive officer of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee (EC), effective today, over what is described as “a morally inappropriate relationship in the recent past.” - snip - Last evening, the officers of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee met via phone conference with Dr. Frank Page during which he announced his plans for retirement. Today, I spoke with Dr. Page and learned that his retirement announcement was precipitated by a morally inappropriate relationship in the recent past. - snip - Page released a statement as well Tuesday afternoon: It is...

The president and CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention’s executive committee announced Tuesday that he was resigning because he engaged in an immoral relationship. Frank Page did not go into detail about the relationship except to say that it was “morally inappropriate” and characterized it as a “personal failing,” according to The Associated Press. Page initially announced that he was retiring, but chose later in the day to acknowledge the true reason for his resignation “in a more forthright manner.” “It is with deep regret that I tender my resignation from the SBC Executive Committee and announce my retirement from...

Are there any significant differences between nondenominational and Southern Baptist churches? A common joke among evangelicals is that nondenominational churches are for Southern Baptists who want to drink booze, suggesting there is not much difference between them. But what does the data show? In an article for Religion in Public titled "Nondenominational Protestants are Basically Southern Baptists (With a Few Caveats)" that was published Wednesday, Ryan P. Burge, a political science professor at Eastern Illinois University who specializes in religion and politics, analyzed data compiled by the Cooperative Congressional Election Study to compare the SBC, nondenominational churches, and the mainline...

The District of Columbia Baptist Convention has been given 90 days to remove a church with lesbian co-pastors from fellowship or risk severing ties with the Southern Baptist Convention.SBC's official news service, Baptist Press, reports that the SBC Executive Committee approved a motion on Feb. 20 giving the DCBC until May 20 to end its affiliation with churches "that have demonstrated a faith or practice affirming, approving or endorsing homosexual behavior."The motion effectively gives DCBC the option to either sever its ties with the 155-year-old Calvary Baptist Church or help lead the church to "repentance."In January 2017, Calvary Baptist hired lesbian...

The head of the Southern Baptist Convention's public affairs division is apologizing for statements he said were interpreted as criticism against evangelical Christians who voted for Donald Trump. ...however. Russell Moore,... said his pre-election comments ...could have been misinterpreted.... Moore had drawn criticism during the general election for calling Trump support by evangelicals and other conservatives "illogical."..... ...However, white evangelical voters turned out in huge numbers for the Republican nominee, with 80 percent backing Trump over 16 percent for ... Hillary Clinton. ... the highest evangelical vote for any candidate since 2004 when they overwhelmingly supported President George W. Bush....

I’ve been in New York this morning to attend a meeting organized by Dr. Ben Carson and others who invited Donald J. Trump to speak to evangelical Christian leaders from across the country. Governor Mike Huckabee was moderator and Mr. Trump answered questions on a wide range of issues. Dr. James Dobson asked the first question–he asked Mr. Trump what he would do concerning religious liberty issues. Mr. Trump said the number one thing he could do for religious liberty would be to appoint great Supreme Court justices and he reminded everyone that the next president could appoint up to...

Southern Baptist churches in the United States will no longer display the Confederate battle flag.

Southern Baptist Convention Minister, Dr. James F. Linzey endorsed Donald J. Trump for president of the United States when speaking to a group of Evangelicals on Sunday, February 13, 2016 in Escondido, California, to make America great again. Linzey said, "Republican Candidate Donald Trump is an intrepid Conservative who unapologetically articulates and accentuates the pulse of most Americans. His campaign is not funded by special interest groups. This means he is not beholden to them, and will have the freedom to build congressional support on both sides of the aisle and promote the values that millions embrace by implementing policies...

Two Kentucky churches once belonging to a local chapter of the Southern Baptist Convention have ended their ties over having female pastors. Trinity Baptist Church of Bloomfield was officially removed from the Nelson Baptist Association while Union Band Baptist Church of Howardstown voluntarily withdrew its membership. Lisa Zahalka, pastor at Trinity Baptist Church, explained to The Christian Post that she was first contacted back in August about pastoring Trinity and also Big Spring Bloomfield Presbyterian. "Upon confirmation The Nelson Baptist Association asked us to remove our church, voluntarily from the association," said Zahalka. "We chose to do nothing. We were...

New rules also loosen restrictions on baptism, divorce, and parents of teens. For more than a decade, the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board (IMB) disqualified candidates who spoke in tongues or who had been baptized in churches that disagreed with the convention’s view of baptism. Similar rules barred divorced people or those with teenagers from being missionaries. That changed Wednesday, when the IMB’s trustees, at the prompting of their new president David Platt, approved a new, simplified set of rules for the agency’s more than 4,800 missionaries. Missionary candidates must affirm the doctrines found in the Baptist Faith...

Justin Fivecoat, a parishioner at St. John The Apostle Catholic Church in Terrell, is one of the honorees who will be recognized Feb. 7 during a Mass for the annual Bishop’s Awards for Service to the Church. (DON JOHNSON/Special Contributor) TERRELL — A local diner, some thoughtful questions and a priest willing to listen led Justin Fivecoat to take a leap of faith three years ago that set him on a path to become an impactful parishioner at St. John the Apostle Catholic Church.“One thing I’ve always sensed about Justin is that I see him as a man after God’s...

Russell Moore (no relation to Roy Moore), the head of the Southern Baptist Convention's public policy arm, “says Alabama judges who in good conscience cannot issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, should resign instead of fighting the law while in office.” What if judges in Germany refused to approve legal orders to transport Jews to death camps? What if they just resigned? Would that have been enough? A resignation would only mean that a new judge would be appointed who would comply with the order. A line has to be drawn somewhere.