Southern Baptists Vote to Keep Out Churches With Female Pastors
Ruth GrahamElizabeth Dias
By Ruth Graham and Elizabeth Dias
Ruth Graham reported from Dallas. Elizabeth Dias reported from New Orleans.
June 14, 2023
Updated 3:57 p.m. ET
Southern Baptists finalized the expulsion of two churches with female pastors on Wednesday, after a dramatic clash at their annual convention over moves by an ultraconservative wing on multiple fronts to reverse what it sees as a liberal drift.
The ousted congregations are the Saddleback Church in Southern California, one of the denomination’s largest, and the Fern Creek Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky. They were expelled in February, but were given the opportunity to appeal the decision at the church’s annual meeting in New Orleans, which ends Wednesday.
Impassioned appeals by the two churches’ leaders were resoundingly rejected by the more than 10,000 delegates. The results, announced Wednesday, were not close. More than 90 percent of the delegates voted in favor of Fern Creek’s expulsion, and almost as many voted to confirm the removal of Saddleback, which was founded by the prominent preacher and author Rick Warren. Delegates also affirmed the expulsion of a church in Florida that the denomination said had failed to cooperate in a sexual abuse investigation.
The convention is scheduled to vote later Wednesday on a proposal to amend its constitution to more clearly and strictly ban women from leadership roles.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/14/us/southern-baptist-women-pastors-ouster.html?unlocked_article_code=lgXGGRxWF5mHjXphxzzzHSknxl1ZYaLxluZ1Wu52-NL-sWTWAGgbj76yI8QOcSG-BstbhKn48atLI_ToJPfmEv9ciihhr-60FVQHgH6VBcofi11kFE86bMy416jJi_nAGIYaO-wHtiSGbzugOizlobTn6RnBlgjbwaH4X3CECVEQ88qCU8R5js61TXCgrNRjRfjNb7xeS7T7ULwLqMirbN6JMQd8N2_RsGl3G4VmF38MXt1Y15GrCWu2Xnv7ESCvJuxTlFYIDgDWqSiDAAPDMddNuiEmYq8IZItG-g9wcify6OWWdDWkaI_nxd-X2C1lAymtf1vqd529DmgrmXCmoWCriTjYXma6iwc&smid=tw-share
( Just a reminder, it is in fact 2023. )