by Sandy » Thu Jun 27, 2019 11:36 am
Post-Birmingham, the response to the way the convention addressed the sexual abuse crisis in their own house was a lot of feel-good back patting and explanations of how the actions they took will lead to real resolution of the problems. They got it "on the stage" (in a carefully orchestrated way, but it was "up there") discussed it in a controlled environment, kept the rally outside and far enough away so that there was a buffer. There's one more vote next year to put the proposal in place and enable the convention to take more immediate action against churches that don't take decisive action against abusers. The response from the victims and their supporters is "Yeah, we see the PR show, but we've seen and heard it all before. The jury is out until we actually see actions to match the words." Clearly they have more confidence in J.D. Greear than in previous resurgence-endorsed presidents but it's still "wait and see and we don't have a lot of patience anymore."
I think that perspective could be vastly improved when Southern Baptists across the board stop prefacing their remarks regarding Patterson with, "Of course, he did a good thing by stepping up and leading the conservative resurgence, but...." He was one of the "architects" of the resurgence, universally acknowledged as such. Apparently, Dr. Greenway at Southwestern has seen the wisdom of cleansing the campus of any last vestiges of the Patterson presidency including getting rid of the windows (should have smashed them so Liberty couldn't get them) and giving Patterson's staff deputies a nice farewell and "don't let the door hit your rear on the way out." The SBC needs to give some sort of acknowledgement in the same way. They need to use their new procedure to tell the church he now belongs to that they need to remove the Pattersons from the roll or the convention will disfellowship the church for harboring someone who aided and abetted a sexual abuser.