Latest news with #SouthernBaptistConvention
Boston Globe
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Southern Baptists to vote on effort to overturn same-sex marriage
Conservative Christian activists hope to build on their movement's success in overturning Roe v. Wade, the now-defunct Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion, in 2022, and to apply the legal and political strategies that proved effective for that victory. Public support for legal same-sex marriage remains high, with more than two-thirds of American adults supporting it. As with abortion, activists hope to gain political power despite their minority viewpoints. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'Christians are called to play the long game,' said Andrew T. Walker, an ethicist at a Southern Baptist seminary in Kentucky who wrote the resolution. He leads the Southern Baptist Convention's resolution committee, which coordinates proposals from Baptists around the country to be put for a vote at the annual meeting. Related : Advertisement 'There are burgeoning embryonic efforts being discussed at the legal-strategy level on how to begin to challenge Obergefell,' he said. 'How do we take the lessons from Roe that took 50 years? What is the legal strategy to overturn Obergefell at some point in the future?' Advertisement Activists are aware that their mission may take years. But the resolution calling for this concrete action shows 'a deepening of Southern Baptist thinking on this issue' and a recognition of the need for a long-term strategy similar to the one that ended a constitutional right to abortion, said R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He said 'there's a great deal of engagement' on this issue between Southern Baptist leaders and lawyers with the Alliance Defending Freedom, the Christian legal advocacy group that worked to overturn Roe. 'As in Roe, it is not just a matter of arguing for or against abortion,' he said. 'It is also the larger pattern in terms of constitutional interpretation.' Supporters of same-sex marriage celebrated outside the US Supreme Court following the ruling on same-sex marriage, on June 26, 2015. DOUG MILLS/NYT The Southern Baptist resolution, titled 'On Restoring Moral Clarity through God's Design for Gender, Marriage, and the Family,' reflects a movement within conservative Christianity to see that laws align with their set of Biblical values and a political commitment to pursue those goals. The resolution calls for overturning not just Obergefell, but also any laws and policies 'that defy God's design for marriage and family,' potentially including the Respect for Marriage Act, a law that former President Joe Biden signed in 2022 mandating federal recognition for same-sex marriages. The resolution also specifically calls for the restriction of commercial surrogacy. Related : Lawmakers have a duty 'to pass laws that reflect the truth of creation,' it says, 'and to oppose any law that denies or undermines what God has made plain through nature and Scripture.' The measure also reflects an alignment with other Republican goals, and calls for laws that would 'strengthen parental rights in education and healthcare, incentivize family formation in life-affirming ways, and ensure safety and fairness in female athletic competition.' Advertisement Couples waited to apply for marriage licenses at Cambridge City Hall on May 17, 2004. RUTH FREMSON/NYT To go into effect, the resolution needs to pass by simple majority vote. Organizers say it is widely expected to pass. Passing the measure could be used as evidence to prove to politicians that culturally unpopular positions have support. Public opinion on same-sex marriage shifted drastically over the past 30 years toward overwhelming support. Last summer during his presidential campaign, Donald Trump had the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman removed from the Republican Party platform. 'It now seems the case in many sectors of American society that same-sex marriage is just as American as baseball and apple pie,' Walker acknowledged. 'I understand the political will is probably minute or minuscule.' Related : Of the nine Supreme Court justices, only Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas have suggested that the court should reconsider Obergefell, which was decided by a 5-4 majority. Chief Justice John Roberts, now a swing vote, issued a strong dissent in the Obergefell ruling. In his concurring opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson, the case that overturned Roe, Thomas directly argued that the rationale the court used to negate a right to abortion should be used to overturn cases that established rights to same-sex marriage, consensual same-sex relations and contraception. Next month Mathew Staver, a Southern Baptist and the chair of the Liberty Counsel, a Christian legal group, plans to ask the Supreme Court to hear a case about Kim Davis, a former county clerk in Kentucky who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2015. That request will directly ask the court to overturn Obergefell, he said. Staver has been trying for two decades to use the courts to stop same-sex marriage, ever since states began to legalize it in 2004. Advertisement Earlier this year his group worked with legislators in Idaho on the language of a resolution that passed the Idaho House of Representatives calling on the Supreme Court to reverse Obergefell. Republican lawmakers, at times drawing on certain Christian principles, introduced similar measures calling for Obergefell's reversal in states like Michigan, Montana and South Dakota, and partially passed them in North Dakota and Idaho. 'That begins to show a sentiment from legislative officials, and it just begins to build a momentum,' Staver said. And while efforts like the SBC measure and the resolutions in the states have been largely independent of each other, he said, 'that momentum results in more coordination' between ideologically aligned groups, which was effective in overturning Roe. The Southern Baptist Convention, a largely conservative network of churches, has taken a rightward turn in recent years, particularly on issues of marriage, family and sex. It has also struggled following revelations of widespread sexual abuse of women and children, and the mishandling of those allegations over decades. The annual meeting is often regarded as a bellwether for broader evangelical sentiment on various political and cultural issues, even though it technically represents the views of only the 10,000 or so members who typically attend and vote, not of all 13 million members. Last year, Southern Baptists voted to oppose the use of in vitro fertilization, passing a resolution that Walker and Mohler proposed as part of a push to advance the 'fetal personhood' movement. The vote greatly worried many other evangelicals who rely on fertility treatments to have children and who believe IVF is life-promoting. Advertisement In 2023, Southern Baptists decided to expel several churches with female pastors, including one of the denomination's largest and most prominent congregations. An attempt to further expand restrictions on women in church leadership gained traction in 2023 but did not pass a second required vote in 2024. That effort is expected to be revived this week. This article originally appeared in
New York Times
20 hours ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Southern Baptists to Vote on Effort to Overturn Same-Sex Marriage
Southern Baptists plan to vote this week on acting to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage 10 years ago this month. The step is part of a growing effort by evangelicals nationwide to reverse Obergefell, and coincides with a renewed campaign in state legislatures to challenge the widely accepted view that same-sex marriage has become an established civil right. While the Southern Baptist Convention has long opposed gay marriage, the vote at its annual meeting in Dallas will be the first time that the largest Protestant denomination in America will ask representatives of its tens of thousands of member churches to work to end it. Conservative Christian activists hope to build on their movement's success in overturning Roe v. Wade, the now-defunct Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion, in 2022, and to apply the legal and political strategies that proved effective for that victory. Public support for legal gay marriage remains high, with more than two-thirds of American adults supporting it. As with abortion, activists hope to gain political power despite their minority viewpoints. 'Christians are called to play the long game,' said Andrew T. Walker, an ethicist at a Southern Baptist seminary in Kentucky who wrote the resolution. He leads the Southern Baptist Convention's resolution committee, which coordinates proposals from Baptists around the country to be put for a vote at the annual meeting. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
New York Times
01-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
The Christian Right Is Dead. The Religious Right Killed It.
There have been two competing narratives about the rise of the Christian right in the United States. The first story is the one we conservative evangelicals told ourselves: Religious conservatism arose as a force in the United States in response to the hedonism of the sexual revolution, the cultural intolerance of the New Left and the threat of the Soviet Union, an explicitly atheistic, Marxist empire. According to this narrative, the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade in 1973 was the seminal domestic event that inspired Christian conservatism. It represented a deadly corruption of our Constitution in service of a culture of sexual convenience in which human life was subordinate to sexual pleasure. The response of the Christian right was both political and personal. That approach could be boiled down to a single sentence: Elect people of good personal character who will defend human life and religious liberty. The movement placed a heavy emphasis on constitutional fidelity, seeing the Constitution as a bulwark against authoritarian overreach. And during Bill Clinton's presidency it staked out the clearest possible ground on personal character. As the Southern Baptist Convention declared at its annual meeting in 1998, 'We urge all Americans to embrace and act on the conviction that character does count in public office, and to elect those officials and candidates who, although imperfect, demonstrate consistent honesty, moral purity and the highest character.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
SBC reports 259,000-member loss. What's new about this now-predictable trend.
There were 259,824 fewer members in the nation's largest Protestant denomination in 2024 and 30 fewer churches. For the Southern Baptist Convention, it marks the latest in a now-predictable trend of year-over-year decline, even as new events are contributing to the losses. Amid 18 consecutive years of declining membership for the Nashville-based denomination, a still unresolved doctrinal fight about women pastors is pushing out megachurches in rapid succession and agitating a tension between size versus belief. The newest SBC census, called the annual church profile, found total membership in 2024 at 12.7 million and total churches at 46,876, according to a report published April 30. In just a few weeks the convention will gather in Dallas for the 2025 SBC annual meeting and is expected to deliberate over convention finances and an ongoing debate about Southern Baptist doctrinal belief and convention governance. Messengers, as voting delegates are known, have debated at recent SBC annual meetings whether to enshrine a ban on women pastors. That legislative endeavor has so far failed, but the discourse has effectively yielded the same outcome that proponents of the ban desire. Three key megachurches — Saddleback Church in Southern California, Elevation Church in North Carolina, and NewSpring Church in South Carolina — exited the convention since in 2023. NewSpring left just a few weeks ago. All three churches consistently rank as the top 100 largest U.S. churches, according to Outreach 100, a survey administered by the SBC-affiliated Lifeway. The recent news of NewSpring's departure revived discourse among Southern Baptists about whether it's more important for the SBC to maintain its size — a key factor in how the denomination exerts wider influence across U.S. politics and culture — versus its commitment to certain theological tenets. Texas pastor Tom Buck said it's always disappointing when the SBC loses members, but he's also not mourning the loss of churches that don't align with the convention's doctrinal beliefs. 'I don't celebrate the numbers getting smaller. Whether the number gets smaller or if it gets larger in a sense is irrelevant to me,' Buck said in an interview. 'It's faithfulness and fidelity to what we believe is what makes us Southern Baptist.' Buck is a leading voice among an opposition conservative faction in the SBC, which has sought to pull the convention further to the right, and championed calls to oust churches that employ women pastors. Megachurches aren't the only casualties in this fight over women pastors and Southern Baptist governance. But the rapid succession of three important ones raises questions about their ability to ensure cohesion among a set of large and theologically diverse group of parishioners. Buck said it's not a coincidence and is a consequence of megachurches softening certain stances to appeal to a wider audience. 'Do megachurches have a tendency to be less careful about doctrine? I think the answer to that is yes. That's not the fault of the SBC,' Buck said. 'Does that mean the SBC doesn't want megachurches or would like to see us become smaller churches? No, the bottom line is what we want is theological fidelity.' Buck's attitude is shared across the SBC, including allies in this opposition conservative faction, those who are typically Buck's opponents on certain SBC political debates, and SBC President Clint Pressley. There are still plenty megachurches affiliated with the SBC, including ones that are known for fiercely right-wing political and theological views. There are 17 churches on the list of top 100 largest U.S. churches that are Southern Baptist. Despite its latest losses, the SBC is still the nation's largest Protestant denomination by a longshot. Pew Research Center reported in its comprehensive Religious Landscape Study in February that 4.4% of U.S. adults are Southern Baptist, and that the next largest group is United Methodist at 2.2% of U.S. adults. Other key takeaways from new annual church profile statistical findings: $469.3 million drop in overall revenue to the SBC Cooperative Program, a budget that is supported by church giving and benefits various SBC ministries. 6.7% increase in average weekly attendance at Southern Baptist churches, or about 253,957 more weekly worshippers in 2024 from previous year. Liam Adams covers religion for The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at ladams@ or on social media @liamsadams. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Southern Baptist Convention reports 259,000-member loss in new census
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Yahoo
Mustang mayor faces allegations of child sex abuse
MUSTANG, Okla. (KFOR) — An Oklahoma woman is speaking out with allegations that she was sexually abused in her church. She says it happened years ago when she was a teenage youth group member of a large Southern Baptist church. The accused was an associate youth pastor at the time. He has worked at two different churches over the years, and he is now the mayor of Mustang. Twenty years ago, Brian Grider was hired as an associate youth pastor at Chisholm Heights Baptist Church. 'Brian was beloved. Everyone adored him. He had a lot of charisma. He had ambition to be a youth group leader or be a youth pastor,' said Tara, who was a member of the church from 1995 to 2008. NEWS 4 EXCLUSIVE: OK man wrongfully convicted tasting freedom after 48 years in prison In 2005, Grider was an adult, 21 years old, and a church employee; Tara was 15 years old. She remembers that Grider bought her a secret cell phone. 'He wanted me to have it so that we could talk together without my parents knowing. It was secret, and we were in constant communication,' Tara said. 'We were texting all day, every day, and the questions became more and more inappropriate. Our conversation was constant, like in the middle of church services. I have memories of him texting me and watching me from across the room.' At 16 years old, Tara says, Grider started giving her pornography DVDs and sex toys, vibrators wrapped in gift bags. At 17 years old, she remembers the night she drank alcohol for the first time at Brian Grider's apartment. 'I'd never done that before,' she said. 'He was giving me shots of things in his apartment. I remember getting pretty sick, and I remember at one point waking up or noticing that he was molesting me with a vibrator. I asked him to stop, and he did. I absolutely felt violated. It was confusing to me that someone who cared so much about my sexual purity, who was preaching about things like that at the pulpit on Wednesday nights, felt like that was an okay thing to do.' Crippled by shame, she waited years to speak out. In 2019, the Southern Baptist Convention was exposed for widespread allegations of sexual misconduct and a shocking cover-up. In 2020, Tara first told her family and some friends about her experience at Chisholm Heights Baptist Church. She wrote a letter to her immediate family members detailing years of grooming, coercion, and manipulation allegedly by Brian Grider. In 2022, Guidepost Solutions published a scathing report about the handling of the Southern Baptist crisis. Guidepost launched a hotline for victims, and Tara called in. She reported her former youth pastor for 'sexual grooming and molestation.' 'When SBC opened up a hotline, I knew that I was supposed to let the church community know,' Tara said. The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) did not launch an investigation into Brian Grider. Special Report: The Wrong Man Instead, the SBC Credentials Committee notified two Oklahoma churches about the complaint against Brian Grider. One of the hallmarks of the Southern Baptist Convention is the denomination's churches operate autonomously. There is no formal governmental body which dictates local policy. As such, the Southern Baptist Convention did not investigate Tara's complaint or direct any specific church to cut ties. The SBC Credentials Committee, however, does have the power to determine whether a church can remain a member of the Convention. It is the Credentials Committee which determines whether a local church has a faith practice that closely identifies with the Convention's adopted statements of faith and whether the church is acting in a manner that is consistent with the Convention's beliefs regarding sexual abuse. Two years after Tara first called the Guidepost Solutions sex abuse hotline, the Southern Baptist Credentials Committee notified Chisholm Heights Baptist Church, where Grider was employed as an associate youth pastor at the time of the allegations, and Together We Church, formerly Trinity Church, where Grider had been employed as a media director. The SBC Credentials Committee wrote in a letter to the churches that Grider had been accused of the molestation of a 15-year-old girl. It took two years for the Southern Baptist Convention to take that action. The Southern Baptist Convention would not answer our questions about why it took two years for the credentials committee to notify the local churches about the allegation against Brian Grider. SBC provided the following statement: The Southern Baptist Convention takes sexual abuse seriously. We are deeply grieved by all instances of sexual abuse and recommend Southern Baptist churches take appropriate steps to care for survivors and work future instances. We urge all parties in this case to contact appropriate local authorities. Brandon Porter, Vice President of Communications, SBC Executive Committee In October 2024, the senior pastor at Together We Church told his congregation, Grider admitted to the sexual misconduct and was immediately terminated. Together We Church would not release additional details about Grider's employment. Executive Pastor, Jonathan Hinkle, released the following statement: We are deeply grieved by the serious allegations involving a former staff member of our church. Our hearts are heavy for the victim, and we want to affirm our unwavering commitment to standing against abuse in any form. Upon learning of this matter, we acted immediately to address the situation with integrity and transparency. We prayerfully support the victim and are committed to walking alongside them in this difficult time. We also hold all those involved in prayer, asking for God's healing and grace to cover every life impacted by these events. Jonathan Hinkle, Executive Pastor with Together We Church Grider has not been an employee of Chisholm Heights Baptist Church for approximately 15 years. Innocent man opens Free Man's Food Truck in northeast OKC The Chisholm Heights Senior Pastor, Dr. Griff Henderson, released the following statement: Our church has stringent safety protocols in place for children, youth, and adults, and has for many years. The well being of people is our priority. The well being of our people is our priority. Dr. Griff Henderson, Chisholm Heights Senior Pastor Both local churches seemed to stand with the victim, swiftly distancing from the accused. The City of Mustang has not. Brian Grider was first elected to the Mustang City Council in 2015, long before these allegations came to light. In 2020, he won the election for mayor overwhelmingly. He is serving his second term. News 4 has tried for months to contact Mustang Mayor Brian Grider to ask him about the allegations of sexual abuse. He won't respond to phone calls, text messages, or emails. We went to his home. He didn't answer the door. We looked for the Mustang mayor at the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments (ACOG), where he's the chair of the Board of Directors. Grider skipped three public meetings on the day we came to these public meetings to speak with him. We tried Mustang City Hall. Grider does not have an office at City Hall. We emailed every Mustang City Council member and received no response from a single council person: Michael Ray – Ward 1 Joshua Leete – Ward 2 James Wald – Ward 3 James Waugh – Ward 4 Travis McKenzie – formerly Ward 5 Kayla Balliew – Ward 5 Nathan Sholund – Ward 6 The city manager, Tim Rooney, denied our request for a statement from the city. The Mustang City Attorney, Jonathan Miller, made no attempt to address our concerns at the Mustang City Council meeting on April 1st, when News 4's Ali Meyer attempted to speak to Mayor Brian Grider. The mayor refused to answer our questions before the public meeting. News 4 waited until the end of the meeting, when the mayor immediately left council chambers, slamming the door and blocking Ali Meyer from opening it. The city council, city manager, and city attorney stood by in silence. 'There's only one rationale for that, and that rationale is cowardice,' said David Clohessy, a former director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). Studies by child sex abuse experts suggest victims take an average of 24 years to come forward. Tara first told her family and some friends in 2020, two years before she reported to the SBC. 'It's especially hurtful when that adult has a position of authority like teacher, coach, principal, pastor, or youth leader,' Clohessy said. 'That's especially damaging, and it makes it even harder for victims to speak up.' Tara never called the police. She has not filed a civil lawsuit. She tells KFOR, the mayor's rise to power is a daily reminder of her experience. 'I just cannot stress enough how much I admire and appreciate this brave, brave woman, because the easiest thing to do about evil is to do nothing. The easiest thing to do when you're suffering is to just suffer in silence and shame and self-blame,' Clohessy said. Tara has made no effort to contact Brian Grider since the relationship ended 15 years ago. She says he reached out to her by text the week he won the election for mayor, in 2020. She did not respond. Brian Grider is an elected official. The citizens of Mustang hold the power. According to the city manager, a recall election is the only way to remove Mayor Brian Grider. 'My hope is that in coming forward about this, other people who've experienced these exact or similar scenarios are able to see them for what they are and ask questions of the people around them; and expect safety from their environments and expect accountability from the people who are supposed to be taking care of them, particularly in the church,' said Tara. 'I feel very strongly about that.' The local church cut ties quickly, facing this reckoning head-on, holding an accused abuser accountable. It is a step the City of Mustang has been unable or unwilling to take. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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