Messengers raise their ballots in support of a motion during the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting on June 11, 2024, in Indianapolis.
AP Photo/Doug McSchooler
In Southern Baptist history, rules on women and sexuality are often entwined. A scholar writes about the first congregation to be expelled from the SBC over LGBTQ+ issues
SBC pastor Rev. Linda Barnes Popham with the choir at Fern Creek Baptist Church in May 21, 2023, in Louisville, Kentucky.
AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski
Scholars explain why many see abortion access as a religious freedom issue and what the views of different faiths are on ‘ensoulment,’ the point at which the soul is believed to enter the fetus.
Attendees pray during a worship service at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting in Anaheim, California, on June 14, 2022.
AP Photo/Jae C. Hong
A scholar writes about how the Southern Baptist Convention’s views on abortion changed during the 1980s, when a more conservative wing seized control of the denomination.
A woman describes being abused sexually by a Southern Baptist minister, outside the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting in June 2019, in Birmingham, Ala.
AP Photo/Julie Bennett
Accused men were protected by the SBC while the women who dared to speak up were called sluts, adulteresses, Jezebels and even agents of Satan. A scholar of evangelicalism writes about this culture.
Theologian Molly Marshall preaching at the Southern Baptist Women in Ministry meeting, June 9, 1985.
Baptist Women in Ministry
Race and religion have intertwined since the earliest days of the US. Critical race theory can explore how white supremacy has operated through religious establishments.
President Trump’s evangelical supporters cheered the 2018 move of of the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Ariel Schalit/AP
The political alliance between American evangelicals and Israel’s right wing may have peaked during the Trump administration.
Each local congregation of the Southern Baptist Convention is autonomous and self-governing. Disagreements take place frequently.
Joe Raedle/Getty images
Baptists believe that each person can have a personal relationship with God. This theology, a scholar writes, has also contributed to disagreements within the denomination since the 17th century.
Younger evangelicals are openly questioning the religious and political traditions of their parents and grandparents.
Julie Bennett/AP
Growing numbers of young evangelicals and ‘Exvangelicals’ are pro-LGBTQ, support #BlackLivesMatter – or are fed up altogether with mixing faith and politics.
J.D. Greear, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, has called on the denomination to focus on its theological mission.
AP Photo/Jay Reeves, File
The SBC is meeting amid divisions, controversy and dwindling numbers. But in pushing rhetoric over its theological mission, the denomination is tapping into a history of white supremacy.
Raise your hands if you think this year’s Southern Baptist Convention meeting could be feisty.
AP Photo/Matt York
A religion data analyst scraped the texts of all Southern Baptist resolutions over the last 150 years. Here’s what he found.
Southern Baptist Convention leaders believe women’s ordination violates biblical teaching. Women have long protested against such views.
AP Photo/Julie Bennett
Southern Baptists are calling for an investigation into the ordination of three women. A scholar explains why this continues to be a fraught issue, even though 2,500 women have been ordained to date.
Southern Baptist purity culture teaches that women are to blame for men’s sexual urges.
AP Photo/Mike Stewart
A controversy has erupted yet again among Southern Baptists over women’s preaching. An expert explains how despite this 300-year-old controversy, Baptist women have shown remarkable leadership.
Following the recent revelations about sex abuse, many Christian communities are facing a crisis of trust.
AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis
In the fourth century, Christian churches in North Africa faced a crisis of trust. A separate church of the Donatists emerged that lasted for centuries.
Southern Baptist Convention messengers hold signs during a rally protesting the convention’s treatment of women in 2018.
AP Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter
Recent media reports point to years of sexual abuse by Southern Baptist pastors. An expert writes why a long culture of women’s submission is responsible for this crisis.
Evangelical Christian educator, Paige Patterson.
AP Photo/Erik S. Lesser, File
With controversial Christian educators like Paige Patterson who believe that the Bible teaches women to submit to men, it matters to know today that evangelicals encouraged women’s education in the past.