Southern Baptist lawyers say the DOJ investigation is over
United States RNS Lawyers for the Southern Baptist Convention said on Wednesday that the US Department of Justice has ended an investigation into the denomination’s response to allegations of sexual abuse committed by Southern Baptist pastors and institutional leaders. That investigation was launched in 2022 after the release of the Guidepost report that demonstrated that […]
US Baptist leaders urge House Speaker Mike Johnson to support Ukrainian Christians
United States RNS Southern Baptist leaders have written to US House Speaker Mike Johnson, a member and former official of their denomination, urging him to support Ukraine in Russia’s war against its Eastern European neighbour. “As you consider efforts to support Ukraine, we humbly ask that you consider the plight of Christians,” wrote the leaders, […]
In the US, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary names David Dockery as new president
United States RNS Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary announced this week that longtime Christian educator David Dockery had been named the school’s president, seven months after the former president resigned unexpectedly. Dockery has been serving as interim president of Southwestern since September, 2022, after the departure of Adam Greenway, who had been installed in February, 2019. David Dockery […]
In the US, Adam Greenway resigns as Southwestern Seminary president
United States RNS The president of one of the Southern Baptist Convention’s largest seminaries resigned last Friday, less than four years after taking office. Adam Greenway was elected president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2019, in hopes that he would help the school recover from the controversial tenure of former President Paige Patterson, who […]
In the US, Southern Baptist seminary heads join chorus of critics as leaders balk on abuse probe
RNS Pressure is building on members of the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention to allow a third-party firm full access to investigate how it has handled allegations of sexual abuse over the past 20 years. This week, all six Southern Baptist seminaries expressed their dismay at the executive committee’s unwillingness to act. Logos […]
In the US, Southwestern Baptist adjunct professor, wife, struck and killed by drag racer
RNS A Baptist professor and his wife were killed in a fiery collision with an alleged drag racer on Friday morning. According to news reports, Ben Arbour and his wife, Meg, were driving home from a date early Friday morning when a car that was racing on Risinger Road in Fort Worth struck their vehicle. Ben […]
US: Seminaries partner with prisons to offer inmates new lives as ministers
YONAT SHIMRON, writing for Religion News Service, reports on how US evangelical schools such as Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary offer inmates a free, on-site college degree if they promise they’ll minister to other inmates once they graduate…
News Special – Southern Baptists mull what’s next on confronting, preventing abuse
RNS The sermons, the hymn singing and the floor debates of the Southern Baptists’ annual meeting have concluded, but a key question remains: How will the denomination address the issues of sexual and physical abuse that loomed over the proceedings? At this week’s – 12th to 13th June – meeting, there was a sense that […]
US seminary board fires Paige Patterson in dramatic turnabout
RNS Facing fresh evidence of an alleged rape cover-up by its former President Paige Patterson, the board of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary voted to strip Dr Patterson of the title and benefits it had granted him while ushering him out of the seminary’s leadership a week ago. In a statement posted to its website Wednesday, […]
In the US, Southern Baptists see ‘judgment of God’ in #MeToo reckoning
RNS One day after the removal of a prominent seminary president following a series of contentious remarks about women, Southern Baptists have begun a public reckoning. The forced retirement of Paige Patterson, the president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, has broken a dam of anger, resentment and recrimination both for his […]