At huge Dallas meeting, Southern Baptists will vote on women, abuse, race and immigration
Times they are a-changin'?
"The Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, begins a major annual meeting Tuesday at which thousands of “messengers” will vote on measures about abuse, immigration, race and the status of women in their conservative movement.
Over the past two months, the Southern Baptist Convention has been rocked by scandal, including the firing of a revered leader in the denomination who was supposed to deliver a key sermon at this very meeting. Instead, the denomination will be meeting without the ousted seminary president Paige Patterson — and with a new focus on the treatment of women, the issue shaking up institutions from Hollywood to Congress in the #MeToo era.
On Tuesday morning, meeting officials released the list of resolutions that will be voted on. Before the Patterson scandal erupted earlier this spring, gender was barely on the agenda. Now, it occupies the first two resolutions.
The first, “on the dignity and worth of women,” emphasizes that Southern Baptist women have long served in various roles and calls for the encouragement of women’s “diverse gifts and callings” — but emphasizes this should be in “biblically appropriate ways.” It calls the culture “increasingly confused in matters of gender and sexuality.” It cites specific scriptural references, including one that says “wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.” It doesn’t cite scripture that calls for mutual submission.
A second resolution calls for Southern Baptists to condemn “all forms of abuse” and to contact civil authorities in such cases, and for the abused to “separate themselves” from abusers (though it is silent on the question of abuse as grounds for divorce). Patterson’s scandal erupted after a 2000 video of him surfaced calling for an abused woman to return to her husband. He refused this spring to apologize for the video.
Another measure notes theological justifications Southern Baptists have used in the past to allow racism, saying “residue” of such teachings remain in their churches. A fourth calls for immigration reform that doesn’t necessarily welcome amnesty, but honors both secure borders and a “pathway to legal status.”"
Or not....LOL!
Times they are a-changin'?
"The Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, begins a major annual meeting Tuesday at which thousands of “messengers” will vote on measures about abuse, immigration, race and the status of women in their conservative movement.
Over the past two months, the Southern Baptist Convention has been rocked by scandal, including the firing of a revered leader in the denomination who was supposed to deliver a key sermon at this very meeting. Instead, the denomination will be meeting without the ousted seminary president Paige Patterson — and with a new focus on the treatment of women, the issue shaking up institutions from Hollywood to Congress in the #MeToo era.
On Tuesday morning, meeting officials released the list of resolutions that will be voted on. Before the Patterson scandal erupted earlier this spring, gender was barely on the agenda. Now, it occupies the first two resolutions.
The first, “on the dignity and worth of women,” emphasizes that Southern Baptist women have long served in various roles and calls for the encouragement of women’s “diverse gifts and callings” — but emphasizes this should be in “biblically appropriate ways.” It calls the culture “increasingly confused in matters of gender and sexuality.” It cites specific scriptural references, including one that says “wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.” It doesn’t cite scripture that calls for mutual submission.
A second resolution calls for Southern Baptists to condemn “all forms of abuse” and to contact civil authorities in such cases, and for the abused to “separate themselves” from abusers (though it is silent on the question of abuse as grounds for divorce). Patterson’s scandal erupted after a 2000 video of him surfaced calling for an abused woman to return to her husband. He refused this spring to apologize for the video.
Another measure notes theological justifications Southern Baptists have used in the past to allow racism, saying “residue” of such teachings remain in their churches. A fourth calls for immigration reform that doesn’t necessarily welcome amnesty, but honors both secure borders and a “pathway to legal status.”"
Or not....LOL!
