What comes from the dark corners of corruption in conservative Evangelicalism is hypocrisy. [View all]

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2024/06/what-comes-from-dark-corners-of.html

Paul Pressler died in Houston on June 7th. The Southern Baptist Convention, meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana June 11th and 12th made no mention of his passing, held no vigil or memorial, and no one eulogized and lauded this man's achievements in turning the Southern Baptist Convention into a far right wing, ultra-conservative, fundamentalist denomination and right wing Republican political action committee.

How did it happen, for someone who was one of the most visible figures in the Southern Baptist Convention for over five decades, one of the men who helped push the liberals and moderates out of the denomination, helping it turn decidedly and staunchly conservative, and almost singlehandedly linked it to conservative, political Republicanism, that there was not even a mention of his death, much less any public tribute or acknowledgement for his helping bring about one of the single most celebrated movements in Southern Baptist history, the Conservative Resurgence?

During all of the time he worked as a conservative reformer, as the result of legal settlements (including one which named the SBC Executive Committee), credible accusations surfaced of his sexual abuse of boys and young men. The abuse started two years before he became one of the two architects of the Conservative Resurgence, when he was alleged to have abused and raped a 14 year old who was a member of the youth ministry he led in a large, Houston church. Though he faced no criminal charges because of statutes of limitations, he eventually settled a lawsuit brought by this accuser, Duane Rollins.

Ultimately, the list of his victims grew to include others involved in church youth ministry where he served, along with interns and male employees of his law firm who who were assigned to do their work at Pressler's office in his Houston home. The details of the law suits and the abuse that is known to have occurred is referenced in the links at the top of this article.