Los Angeles Times

Commentary: The Southern Baptists are having a come-to-Jesus moment

A photo taken in 1978 shows US President Jimmy Carter phoning at his desk at the White House in Washington.

When Jesus became exasperated with the religious leaders of his day, he called them “blind guides” who “strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.” In the wake of the recent searing public revelations of sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention, that description applies to the leadership of the largest Protestant denomination in the United States.

In the history of the Southern Baptist Convention, two dates stand out. The first is 1845, when the denomination was formed. Southerners resented the push from Baptists in the North to end the scourge of slavery, so they seceded to

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