Preacher Beth Moore splits with the Southern Baptist Convention over sexual abuse and misconduct within the church, and because of disagreements over lewd comments made by former President Donald Trump about grabbing women.
Moore told Religion News Service in an interview Friday that “she is no longer a Southern Baptist.” She also told them “I am still a Baptist, but I can no longer identify with Southern Baptists. I love so many Southern Baptist people, so many Southern Baptist churches, but I don’t identify with some of the things in our heritage that haven’t remained in the past.”
. @BethMooreLPM, beloved Bible teacher and best-selling author, says she is no longer a Southern Baptists and says she has ended decades-long partnership with SBC publisher @Lifeway. https://t.co/mmUXj33ftX
— Religion News Service (@RNS) March 9, 2021
Her split with the church comes after years of pushing back against former President Donald Trump and the Access Hollywood tape. She expected other Southern Baptist leaders to express outrage at the lewd comments; instead, they rallied around the former president, according to The Washington Post.
As a result of her outspokenness, Moore’s book and ticket sales to her events plummeted, and she was labeled as “liberal” and “woke,” according to The Washington Post.
Because of Trump’s promises to deliver anti-abortion judges throughout the country, Moore said she understood why so many evangelicals supported him. However, Moore says that she does not understand why Trump “became the banner, the poster child for the great white hope of evangelicalism,” according to The Washington Post.
Moore also spoke out against abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention in 2019, after a report detailed 700 cases of sexual abuse in 20 years within the church. Other Southern Baptist leaders have disagreed with Moore’s preaching work in the Church and have called for the church to cancel her, since only men are allowed to become pastors in the Southern Baptist Convention. (RELATED: Report Reveals Southern Baptist Ministers Abused More Than 700 Victims Over 20 Years)
When the Southern Baptist Church engaged in debates over critical race theory, a number of high-profile black pastors left the church, according to The Washington Post. Beth Allison Barr, a history professor and dean at Baylor University, fears that Moore’s departure will also take a number of women away from the church with her.