The Southern Baptist Convention resisted pushes from the right and elected a president who has worked to bridge racial divides in the church
Pastor Ed Litton, of Saraland, Ala., answers questions after being elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention on June 15, 2021, in Nashville, Tenn. | AP Photo/Mark HumphreyNASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Southern Baptist Convention tamped down a push from the right at its largest meeting in decades on Tuesday, electing a new president who has worked to bridge racial divides in the church and defeating an effort to make an issue of critical race theory.
Stone had campaigned aggressively, including speaking at churches across the country and even appearing on Fox & Friends on Tuesday before the vote. And the Conservative Baptist Network had encouraged supporters to come to the meeting as voting delegates. The two-day meeting concludes Wednesday when delegates will consider proposals for a sweeping review of the SBC’s response to abuse in its churches, an issue that recently erupted with secret recordings and leaked letters involving top leadership.
One white delegate urged the convention to denounce critical race theory by name, saying it held him “guilty because of the melanin content of my skin.” But another argued that the convention shouldn’t be swayed by a political movement that has already seen some state legislatures ban the teaching of CRT.
On the sex abuse issue, Tennessee pastor Grant Gaines, speaking with a survivor at his side, proposed a task force that would oversee a review of the denomination’s actions — a broader investigation than the one announced last week by the SBC’s Executive Committee.The convention overwhelmingly approved a resolution declaring that “any person who has committed sexual abuse is permanently disqualified from holding the office of pastor.
Voters gave final approvals to constitutional amendments excluding churches that affirm ethnic discrimination or act against the convention’s “beliefs regarding sexual abuse.” Still to be debated was how those standards on abuse apply in practice.
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