💒 5 Takeaways From Dallas: SBC Seeks Same-Sex Marriage Reversal And More 🔌

 

Weekend Plug-in 🔌

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(ANALYSIS) In the Big D this week — and I do mean Dallas — the Southern Baptist Convention pushed for a national divorce from same-sex marriage.

That’s one of five major takeaways from the annual meeting of America’s largest Protestant denomination (albeit one with a declining membership number 18 years in a row).

More than 10,000 Baptists — representing 12,722,266 members overall — gathered at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas.

The takeaways:

1. The conservative evangelical denomination wants the 10-year-old U.S. Supreme Court precedent legalizing same-sex marriage overturned.

The Associated Press’ Peter Smith explains the convention’s position:

The wide-ranging resolution doesn’t use the word “ban,” but it left no room for legal same-sex marriage in calling for the “overturning of laws and court rulings, including Obergefell v. Hodges, that defy God’s design for marriage and family.” Further, the resolution affirmatively calls “for laws that affirm marriage between one man and one women.”

A reversal of the Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell decision wouldn’t in and of itself amount to a nationwide ban. At the time of that ruling, 36 states had already legalized same-sex marriage, and support remains strong in many areas.

However, if the convention got its wish, not only would Obergefell be overturned, but so would every law and court ruling that affirmed same-sex marriage.

The intensified focus on opposing LGBTQ+ rights represents “a shift from abortion, which was long the fixation of SBC resolutions prior to the overturning of Roe v. Wade,” according to The Tennessean’s Liam Adams.

“The 2022 overturning of Roe emboldened many within the Nashville-based SBC to then hope for the same with the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage,” Adams writes.

Aaron Earls with SBC-owned Lifeway Research points out:

Most Americans approve of same-sex marriage, according to Gallup, but support has stopped growing, mirroring a similar plateau among pastors.

See more coverage from the Dallas Morning News’ Adrian Ashford and Matt Kyle, Religion News Service’s Adelle M. Banks and the New York Times’ Ruth Graham. 

2. The SBC rejects a formal ban on women pastors.

If that line sounds familiar, it’s a repeat of one of last year’s takeaways, when Baptists met in Indianapolis.

Religion News Service’s Bob Smietana notes:

A proposed amendment to the Southern Baptist Convention’s constitution, which would have kept any church that affirms, appoints or employs a woman “as a pastor of any kind” from belonging to the SBC, got 60.74% of the vote Wednesday (June 11), just shy of the two-thirds majority needed to move forward.

A similar proposal failed last year on a second vote.

More from USA Today’s Marc Ramirez:

The matter has tested the Nashville-based denomination’s commitment to church autonomy as some churches choose to embrace more egalitarian views about women in ministry rather than complementarianism, which prescribes different roles for men and women.

The SBC has disfellowshipped several prominent churches because of female pastors within the last several years, including Saddleback Church, a megachurch in Southern California; Fern Creek Baptist of Louisville, Kentucky; and First Baptist Church Alexandria in Virginia.

Others, like NewSpring Church in South Carolina, have left voluntarily.

3. The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the denomination’s embattled public policy arm, survives a challenge to shut it down. Again.

Christianity Today’s Kate Shellnutt reports:

This was the fourth year in a row that the convention challenged the ERLC and the first time that Southern Baptists got concrete numbers showing how many have lost confidence in the entity, which critics claim is no longer aligned with churches’ political interests.

More than 40 percent of those voting on Wednesday were ready to shut it down.

The Tennessean’s Adams adds:

The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission advocates for beliefs articulated in SBC resolutions, and is a reason why ERLC president Brent Leatherwood said the commission’s work is essential for the denomination.

Leatherwood addressed messengers before it debated the proposal to abolish the ERLC, saying eradicating the commission “means the public square would be abandoned by the SBC, losing a powerful voice for the truth of the gospel and in effect rewarding secular efforts to push religion out.”

Critics have accused the ERLC of promoting views on issues like the environment, immigration, and the war in Ukraine that are inconsistent with conventional Southern Baptist values. Leatherwood has been the specifically been a target of those attacks. He nearly lost his job last year when the commission’s former board chair acted unilaterally to remove Leatherwood, who shortly before had commended former President Joe Biden for dropping out of the U.S. presidential race.

4. Last weekend’s death of Jennifer Lyell, a whistleblower against sexual abuse in the SBC, looms over the denomination’s ongoing debate on abuse reform.

Lyell, 47, was “an editor and author whose promising career in Christian publishing was derailed when she accused a former Southern Baptist leader of abuse,” RNS’ Smietana writes.

Just in the past few months, Lyell had sat for a deposition in which she revealed details of her alleged sexual and spiritual abuse, according to Smietana.

The NYT’s Graham notes:

The urgency to confront sexual abuse in the denomination has waned since Ms. Lyell spoke out in 2019 about what she described as ongoing abuse by a professor at a Southern Baptist seminary.

Ms. Lyell died at 47 after a series of “massive strokes,” according to Rachael Denhollander, an activist and lawyer who has represented Ms. Lyell and was a close friend. Ms. Denhollander and other friends said Ms. Lyell’s health had declined precipitously since she publicly reported her alleged abuse, making her the subject of intense criticism within the denomination.

More from The Tennessean’s Adams:

Loved ones had worried Lyell’s death would go unrecognized by the convention at its annual legislative assembly, an event that just three years ago featured a resolution apologizing to abuse survivors, including Lyell.

But Lyell’s prominence this week on the national stage, elevated by national news features and a post from actor Ashley Judd, is a testament to triumphant moments Lyell is being remembered for.

5. The SBC takes aims at what it sees as “harmful and sinful practices” — to borrow the description of CT’s Shellnutt — including sports betting and online porn.

“Though the SBC’s opposition to gambling dates back to the 19th century, this week marks the first time Southern Baptists voted to condemn sports betting in particular,” Shellnutt reports. “The new statement decries sports betting as predatory, backs government regulation, and asks Southern Baptists to refuse to participate.”

Via Baptist Press’ Scott Barkley:

Whitney Alexander, a women’s ministry leader at First Baptist Church in Gadsden, Ala., where her husband, Mat, is pastor, presented Resolution 4 that calls for a ban on pornography.

“We have a responsibility to speak, to say it out loud, to not be afraid to say this is an issue,” she said. “It’s an issue not only in the lives of individuals and the lives of families, but it’s an issue in America.”

Up next: Southern Baptists will meet June 9-10, 2026, in Orlando, Florida.

Inside The Godbeat

The Dallas Morning News, which a quarter-century ago boasted the nation’s best religion section and reporting team, provided extensive coverage of the SBC meeting in its backyard.

While the Baptists were in town, the Texas newspaper published a related front-page story four days in a row, Morning News religion writer Adrian Ashford notes.

Among the interesting local angles:

• Car washes, homeless outreach, evangelism: Crossover kicks off Southern Baptist Convention

• First Baptist Dallas event celebrates growing community of Hispanic Baptists in SBC

• With fewer dissenting voices, Southern Baptists return to Dallas ready to move on

The late Jeffrey Weiss, who excelled on the Godbeat for the Morning News, would be proud.

The Final Plug

My friend Sarah Pulliam Bailey, former religion writer for the Washington Post, Religion News Service and Christianity Today, emailed after reading my column last week on pregame prayers at Oklahoma City Thunder games.

Bailey, who grew up in Indianapolis, said she loved reading my piece — even though she’s a hardcore Pacers fan.

“Hope you guys are well, even if I hope Indiana ultimately wins!” she said.

The Pacers lead the best-of-seven NBA Finals two games to win. Game 4 is tonight in Indianapolis. 

My recommendation: Thunder up! Enjoy the weekend, everyone.

Bobby Ross Jr. writes the Weekend Plug-in column for Religion Unplugged and serves as editor-in-chief of The Christian Chronicle. A former religion writer for The Associated Press and The Oklahoman, Ross has reported from all 50 states and 18 nations. He has covered religion since 1999.

 
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