An Open Letter to Russell Moore and J.D. Greear
Dr. Moore and Dr. Greear,
Thank you for your leadership in the Southern Baptist Convention. While not always in agreement with you, I have valued your integrity and courage in leading the SBC during these challenging times.
Over the last week, correspondence from Dr. Moore to the Executive Committee and from Dr. Moore to Dr. Greear have been released to the public. These letters document disturbing behavior emanating from the Executive Committee. The behaviors include abusing victims of sexual abuse, winking and nodding at patterns of sexual abuse, protecting the interests of Paige Patterson at the expense of the SBC’s reputation, accusing victims of sexual abuse of being promiscuous, and using derogatory language to describe victims of sexual abuse. The letters also document misuse of the trust invested in the members of the Executive Committee by SBC churches including making threats and concocting phony investigations to thwart your work on sexual abuse. Further, these letters document a number of members of the Executive Committee who practice racism as a matter of routine.
What this correspondence demonstrates is a level of rot in SBC leadership unfathomable to most its members. The rot revealed is disgraceful. It is deeply disturbing. Frankly, it is sinful. The rot revealed here is that while preaching the Imago Dei on Right to Life Sunday, at least some members of the Executive Committee, do not believe the Imago Dei in practice. One cannot believe that every human is in the image of God and wink at, condone, and cover up sexual abuse. One cannot believe in the image of God and refer to a survivor as a “whore.” One cannot believe in the Imago Dei and treat African-Americans with contempt.
Now, that these letters are in the public domain, deep shame has come on the SBC. Non-believers and even believers from other traditions now have good reason to look at the SBC with a jaundiced eye. The behavior revealed in these letters is an affront to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In observing some of the responses to these letters, it is somewhat gratifying to see some members of the SBC leadership taking these revelations seriously. Some are planning to make a motion to direct the new president to begin an investigative process and create a task force to hire a third party to investigate the Executive Committee. While an outside investigation is the right step to make, directing the new president who could himself be a subject to the investigation, to create the task force is not a healthy move. Make no mistake, I support an outside investigation. I would prefer the task force to be fully independent, however.
Something else needs to happen, however. Because of your proximity to the issues at hand, because you were the ones threatened, because you were the ones who heard the abuse of survivors, because you were the ones who heard “gutter-level” racism, you have a duty. I believe it is incumbent on you to release the names of those who have acted in such a profoundly anti-Gospel way to the public. A few of the names might be commonly known, but the rest of the participants remain in the shadows.
If you do not release the names, the future of the SBC is contingent on a potential third-party investigation. How long will that investigation take? Do you think it might take a year, assuming it happens at all? What could happen in the year the potential investigation takes place? Those involved could have another year to prevent the protection of women and children, another year to abuse survivors, another year to practice racism. The SBC could have another year to live with the well-earned scorn of outsiders.
The rot documented in this correspondence can only live in shadows and fester in darkness. Only the light of truth will bring an end to this rot. At the moment, you are the ones who can stop the it. Release the names, release the evidence, give us dates and times, tell us who witnessed the behavior, and tell us how your observations can be corroborated. It is the right thing to do.
Grace and Peace
Layne Wallace, D.Min. Ph.D.
Senior Pastor, Rosemary Baptist Church
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