A Southern Baptist Convention heavyweight has warned 'the judgment of God has come' on the evangelical denomination in the wake of the firing of the controversial former president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Paige Patterson.
Patterson was removed after a marathon 13-hour session of trustees that ended just after 3am local time yesterday.
He had been heavily criticised for appearing to suggest women suffering form domestic abuse should submit to their violent husbands and for describing the sexualisation of a 16-year-old girl as 'biblical'.
Without naming Patterson, Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, admitted 'the SBC is in the midst of its own horrifying #MeToo moment' in a post on his blog.
'The SBC, solidly conservative theologically, has been revealed to be morally compromised,' he said.
'This is just a foretaste of the wrath of God poured out. This moment requires the very best of us. The Southern Baptist Convention is on trial, and our public credibility is at stake. May God have mercy on us all,' he wrote.
However he denied the denomination's conservative teaching on the role of women – that men should be head of the home and of the church – was the root of the problem, although admitted that it could look like that.
'Is it just camouflage for abusive males and permission for the abuse and mistreatment of women? We can see how that argument would seem plausible to so many looking to conservative evangelicals and wondering if we have gone mad,' he wrote.
'But the same Bible that reveals the complementarian pattern of male leadership in the home and the church also reveals God's steadfast and unyielding concern for the abused, the threatened, the suffering, and the fearful. There is no excuse whatsoever for abuse of any form, verbal, emotional, physical, spiritual or sexual. The Bible warns so clearly of those who would abuse power and weaponize authority.'
In a separate blog post Ed Stetzer, executive director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College and Billy Graham distinguished chair of church, mission, and evangelism, attacked Patterson's response where he said he '[had] nothing to apologize for'.
Stetzer blogged: 'The SBC sent a message to women we did not want to send, about their value and our view of our friends and coworkers who are women, showing that, for many, it was not just a message, but it was reality.
'The damage has been stunning.'
It comes after Stetzer heavily criticised Patterson in a forensic piece examining his conduct and called for him to go.
Patterson is due to speak at the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting in June. The disapproval expressed by his termination may increase pressure on him to withdraw, but his appointment as president emeritus sends the opposite signal. Famously combative, Patterson may well take it as a green light to proceed.
But Stetzer warned of the damage that would be done if he did. 'Dr Patterson should not (and must not) preach the SBC annual meeting sermon, and I will speak up again if he does,' he said.
