âCritical race theory,â again?
Groan. Every time I surf the news these days, those three little words continue to pop up, even though hardly anybody, including the people who say it, seem to know what âcritical race theoryâ or CRT, for short, really means.
So I was only half-surprised to see the CRT dispute has even reached churches, including the internal tug of war between ultraconservatives and moderate conservatives in the very conservative Southern Baptist Convention.
Two prominent Black megachurch pastors, the Rev. Charlie Dates of Chicagoâs Progressive Baptist Church and the Rev. Ralph D. West of Houstonâs The Church Without Walls, made national headlines in religious media by announcing that they would be leaving the denomination in protest.
Southern Baptists vote to probe leaders sex abuse response
TRAVIS LOLLER and PETER SMITH, Associated Press
June 16, 2021
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1of18Incoming Southern Baptist Convention President Ed Litton, center left, talks with outgoing President J. D. Greear, center right, at the conclusion of the annual Southern Baptist Convention meeting, Wednesday, June 16, 2021, in Nashville, Tenn.Mark Humphrey/APShow MoreShow Less
2of18Incoming Southern Baptist Convention President Ed Litton, standing at left, and outgoing President J. D. Greear, kneeling at right, talk with denomination members following the conclusion of the annual Southern Baptist Convention meeting Wednesday, June 16, 2021, in Nashville, Tenn.Mark Humphrey/APShow MoreShow Less
The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest evangelical group in the U.S. elected a new president Tuesday Ed Litton. Litton, who has championed racial reconciliation, narrowly defeated Mike Stone, the favored far-right candidate. Judy Woodruff discusses the runoff vote with Ed Stetzer, a part of the Southern Baptist Convention and executive director of the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center.
Read the Full Transcript
Judy Woodruff:
The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant Church denomination in the U.S., met this week to elect a new president.
But it was more than just selecting a new leader. The future direction of the denomination itself is at stake. In recent years, and especially the past several months, the convention has been divided by contentious debates over race, politics, gender, and the handling of past sexual abuse cases.
Southern Baptists vote to investigate leaders sex abuse response
Travis Loller and Peter Smith
Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. Delegates at the Southern Baptist Convention s annual meeting voted overwhelmingly this week to create a task force to oversee an independent investigation into the denomination s handling of sexual abuse.
Separately, the convention approved its most absolutist statement yet in opposition to abortion, a resolution calling for its immediate banning without exception and calling it a crime against humanity that must be punished equally under the law.
The measure calls for the newly elected SBC president, Alabama pastor Ed Litton, to appoint the task force, which will head up a review of allegations that the denomination s Executive Committee mishandled abuse cases, intimidated victims and advocates, and resisted reforms.