Paige Patterson is the 75-year-old president of Fort Worth's Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, which claims to be one of the largest schools of its kind in the world. He is lionized among Baptists for his role in the "conservative resurgence," which is what some call the movement to oust theological liberals beginning in the 1970s. But this week, his past legacy and present credibility were called into question when a 2000 audio recording surfaced in which Patterson said he has counseled physically abused women to avoid divorce and to focus instead on praying for their violent husbands, and to "be submissive in every way that you can."
Some notable SBC leaders echoed concerns about Patterson's comments and whether he should step down.
But the tight-knit Southern Baptist boys' club is not so easily unraveled, and many leaders have sheltered their colleague. Some have simply remained mum. The denomination's Executive Committee has not acknowledged the controversy despite the media coverage it has received. Current SBC President Steve Gaines has also stayed silent, though today he curiously tweeted, "You must not speak everything that crosses your mind" and encouraged people to "read your Bible more than you check [social media]." Others have actually offered their support. For example, Atlanta-based pastor and former SBC President Johnny Hunt took to Twitter to praise Patterson as "a man of God and a man of your word."
In the days since the scandal was first sparked, the situation for Patterson has worsened substantially:
- First came another quote from the same audio clip, in which Patterson is heard telling a story about a female congregant of his who confessed to being abused by her husband. Rather than report the incident to the authorities or help the woman escape, he sent her back to her spouse and asked her to pray "not out loud, but quietly." The woman returned the next Sunday with two black eyes, a sight which Patterson said made him "very happy" because it made her husband feel guilty enough to attend church for the first time.
- Next came the release of Patterson's defiant public statement in which he only conceded that his remarks were "probably unwise" before painting himself as a martyr who has been subjected to a campaign of "mischaracterization" fueled by "lies."
- Then, a video recording from 2014 emerged in which Patterson resembles the ghost of Roy Moore, objectifying and sexualizing a 16-year-old girl in a sermon illustration.
- If that were not enough, a news story published by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 1997 surfaced in which Patterson was asked about women and quipped, "I think everybody should own at least one."
- Patterson offered an interview to the denomination's publicity arm, Baptist Press, in hopes of doing some damage control. But he made things worse by confirming that he believes "non-injurious physical abuse which happens in so many marriages" might spur a woman to "pray [her husband] through this." (Baptist Press later manipulated the quote to read "minor non-injurious abuse" claiming that it better aligned with Patterson's intention.)
- Finally, The Washington Post published an article noting that Patterson has been named as a defendant in a lawsuit, which claims he knew about child-molestation accusations against a close friend of his, fellow Southern Baptist Paul Pressler, but chose to cover it up rather than report it.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/05/sbc-patterson/559532/
