Southern Baptists Back Women Pastor Ban With 75% Vote, Seeking Constitutional Change
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jun 10
Southern Baptists Back Women Pastor Ban With 75% Vote, Seeking Constitutional Change
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jun 10
Summary
About 75% of roughly 8,000 Southern Baptist Convention voters approved language adding to the denomination’s constitution that churches may not “affirm, appoint or endorse” women as pastors.
The measure is meant to tighten and clarify the convention’s existing prohibition on women serving as church leaders and preachers, with supporters casting it as a defense of biblical gender roles.
R. Albert Mohler Jr., who proposed the amendment, said the vote would help the SBC move forward in “unity and truth,” while backers argued it answered wider confusion about gender.
The change is not yet final: it must win a second vote next year with another two-thirds majority before entering the Southern Baptist Convention’s constitution.