ORLANDO, Florida (RNS) — Over the past decade, members of the Southern Baptist Convention have touted the denomination’s diversity, sought to keep sexual abusers away from churches and passed statements advocating for immigration reform and a path to legal status for those in the country without authorization.
Now, for a vocal group of Southern Baptists, diversity is seen as too woke for the Bible. The two candidates running for SBC president say the SBC does not have an abuse crisis, with one claiming the sexual abuse crisis was a “snipe hunt” that led Baptists astray. And the more than 11,000 local church delegates, known as messengers, gathering at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, this week will debate a resolution that claims compassion should not get in the way of deportation.
They will also consider a call to ban churches with women pastors and churches that allow women to preach in Sunday services.
Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, plans to introduce what he calls a “Truth and Unity Amendment” during the SBC annual meeting, set for June 9-10. That amendment to the SBC Constitution would bar churches that affirm, appoint or endorse women pastors — and specifically mentions women who preach.
The SBC’s statement of faith already says that only men …