Author: Christa Brown

Christa Brown is the author of the new book, Baptistland: A Memoir of Abuse, Betrayal, and Transformation. She has persisted for two decades in working to peel back the truth about clergy sex abuse and coverups in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, and has consistently demanded reforms to make kids and congregants safer.

Don’t Think the Southern Baptist Convention Vote on Women Pastors Was a Win for Women

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The Southern Baptist Convention rejected a proposed amendment that would have designated any church with a woman pastor as no longer in “friendly cooperation” with the SBC. Those churches could have then been expelled from the SBC.

Some might express surprise at this vote and wonder if Southern Baptists are changing direction on women’s issues—if they’re becoming more accepting of women in leadership.

They’re not. This vote wasn’t at all about supporting women.

Southern Baptists Pursue a Mission of Misogyny

This weekend, thousands of Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) delegates will assemble in Indianapolis, and one of the most misogynistic gatherings in all of Christendom will be on display. With 13 million members, the Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant faith group in the country. Considered as a bellwether for white evangelicals, and enmeshed with the Republican Party, the SBC carries an outsized influence disproportionate to its numbers.

When you combine the SBC’s misogynistic, authoritarian theology, which relegates females to second-class status, with an institutional structure lacking in effective accountability systems, you wind up with an institution in which abuse can run rampant.