Southern Baptists in disarray — and some of it has to do with Trump

The president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Bart Barber, is facing a challenge from hardliner Georgia pastor Mike Stone — and it threatens to tear yet another rift in a faith organization that has gone through years of controversy over both their position under former President Donald Trump and an explosion of sexual abuse claims, reported Religion News Service.

“I’m thankful for the godly men and women who serve our convention. And there’s a lot to celebrate in the SBC, from church planting to international missions and beyond,” said Stone in a social media announcement video. “And while I have no desire to disparage anyone, there are also serious causes of grave concern.”

"Pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Blackshear, Georgia, Stone has been closely allied in the past with the Conservative Baptist Network, which has accused current SBC leaders of becoming too liberal. Candidates backed by the CBN have lost the last two presidential elections," said the report. "Stone was also an outspoken critic of former SBC ethicist Russell Moore and twice backed investigations against Moore while serving on the denomination’s Executive Committee. Stone and other critics worried Moore’s criticism of Donald Trump and other statements had caused disruption in the convention. In a letter that became public after he left the SBC, Moore complained his opponents in the SBC wanted him to 'live in psychological terror.'" Stone then went on to sue Moore for defamation over those remarks in 2021.

If elected, Stone has said his main priorities will be to reverse declining church attendance around the nation, and helping churches handle sexual abuse cases more effectively.

The SBC, which is an umbrella group for a number of particularly conservative evangelical churches, has generated controversies for itself recently, including ousting a California church for allowing women to be pastors.

The evangelical movement in general is at a crossroads, with younger people increasingly abandoning the church and internal conflict about the politics of its members; many Southern Baptists enthusiastically embraced Trump as a means of advancing their political agenda, and polls even suggest many white evangelicals changed their whole worldview about political morality for the sake of supporting him.