March 1, 2024
On Judge Paul Pressler
Seven years ago, I tweeted a note of congratulations to Judge Paul Pressler on his receiving the L. R. Scarborough Award at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. I had forgotten about that tweet until being made aware of it last night. I chose to immediately delete the tweet in light of recent revelations about Judge Pressler.
Clearly, if what we know today had been known 7 years ago, there is no way Paul Pressler would have received the L. R. Scarborough Award. The fact the award received unanimous approval of the entire 2017 Board of Trustees at SWBTS only underscores the information known to Southern Baptists at the time.
Of course I condemn sexual abuse. I don’t personally know a Southern Baptist who does not condemn sexual abuse. Pressler’s alleged actions are reprehensible. I repudiate them in the strongest of terms. Whatever role for good he played in the Conservative Resurgence of the SBC has been forever stained. He deserves no accolades and only condemnation and a call to repentance.
At the same time, I don’t think Southern Baptists want to move in the direction of holding someone accountable for acting on information that wasn’t even known to him at the time. This would be a mockery of Biblical justice, wisdom, and discernment. It’s an approach I believe Southern Baptists should and will soundly reject.
I am grateful for the efforts made by Southern Baptists to eradicate any expressions of sex abuse among our churches and entities. I appreciate the work that has been done to educate and equip churches and entities in how to recognize and address sex abuse. If elected SBC president, I pledge my full support in this ongoing and important work.
To view this statement in PDF form, click here.