President Bart Barber of the Southern Baptist convention sat down with CNN's Anderson Cooper to address the recent controversy of hundreds of sexual abuse allegations within the denomination.
According to the report, the Department of Justice is currently investigating the scandal.
In the report, it says that Bart Barber is a pastor from Farmersville, Texas who has had over two decades of experience preaching.
The Rise of President Bart Barber
Before his post, he preached at the First Baptist Church with 320 members in its congregation. Together with his family, he also has a farm that practices what he calls "regenerative farming."
In the interview, Barber commented that "blind partisanship destroys everything, except baseball." He added that he is a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals.
In the interview, the pastor said that he felt that the leadership of the convention was a calling from God to "help Southern Baptists move forward." Barber was elected by the denomination in June, just a few weeks after the list of credible sexual abuse accusations came to light.
President Bart Barber on the Sexual Allegations Against SBC and Politics
The SBC president talked about the actions the convention is taking to address and correct the situation. He said that apart from the church's cooperation with the investigations of the Department of Justice, the SBC itself created a sexual abuse task force to create a registry of the credible reports. The registry aims to be a way for the church to track down the predators.
He added that he has strong feelings against the predators as it sullies the job of pastors and the church.
As for the balance of the church and state, President Barber said that the church should not have dominion over the operations of the government. He added that it would go against Biblical teachings as Jesus Christ said Himself that "His kingdom is not of this world."
The interview also covered the stands of President Barber on same-sex marriage, abortion, and elections. Notably, the president believes that the election of current POTUS Joe Biden is legitimate.
In the interview, it was noted that a majority of white evangelicals follow the belief that the election was stolen in 2020.
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Southern Baptist Convention
According to Brittanica, the Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Baptist denomination in the country. The denomination originates from Augusta, Georgia in 1845. The organization is known to be conservative theologically and socially and is not active when it comes to ecumenical activities.
It is also a part of the Baptist World Alliance.
Today, it has over 14 million members making up 47,000 congregations with its Headquarters situated in Nashville, Tennessee.
The Guardian reported that the convention was placed in the spotlight this year with the release of the 205-page document that lists hundreds of SBC pastors and leaders found guilty or credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors.
The report came out after a seven-month-long investigation that revealed the abuses. The article also said that the spokesman and the counsel of the SBC had a list of their own but decided to keep the convention safe against liability.
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