Pastor Matt Queen, preaching at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, March 2023
The fundamental principles of Christianity are supposedly the rules allegedly handed down to Moses by God in the form of the Ten Commandments, although there is some confusion over which ten commandments is the because the only set of ten rules called The Ten Commandments in the Bible are all about what food to eat when, what to sacrifice when, etc., (Exodus 34:17-26) and nothing to do with human interactions - the basis of society.
The rules allegedly give to Moses in the form of writing on two 'tablets of stone' are what are normally referred to as The Ten Commandments, although there are two different versions (Exodus 20:2-17 and Deuteronomy 5:7-21), differing especially over the reason for 'keeping the sabbath holy'. Apparently, God changed his mind on that point.
But incorporated in these latter commandments is the Golden Rule almost certainly plagiarized from neighboring cultures because no culture could succeed without a form of it - Treat others the way you would like them to treat you. In other words, do something that fundamentalists seem to find baffling - use your innate empathy ability to work out how to behave in any given situation.
that rule obviously covers killing, stealing, etc., so renders them redundant in any list of rules of civilised behaviour, so perhaps the second most important rule is 'no lying', or, in biblical terms, no bearing false witness against others and no trying to fool people into believing thongs you know aren't true.
You could argue of course that lying to someone, or to paraphrase Mark Twain's, "trying to fool someone into believing something that aint so", is really covered by the Golden Rules because you wouldn't want someone to trick you into believing some thig that aint so, so you shouldn’t try to trick them.
So, given the readiness of Christians to lie for their faith, it is very clear that scant regard is being paid to the rules they would like to impose on the rest of us if ever they regained the power over us that they once had. In fact, piety is used as an excuse to self-licence an exemption from the rules they insist other should live by, demonstrating yet again the truism that religions provide excuses for people who need excuses. They're not only trying to fool us with false witnessing but they're doing something to us that they wouldn't want us to do to them. In other words, they're being something that Jesus allegedly forbade them from being - hypocrites. (Matthew 15: 7-8)
It should come as no surprise than that a leading Southern Baptist has been exposed as a lying hypocrite. Indeed, its's almost as though he believes there is no omnipotent god who will one day judge him, with special scrutiny on how faithfully he's complied with the God-given rules, or not. This particular
The Guidepost Report. The Guidepost Report was commissioned by the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and released in May 2022 following an independent investigation by Guidepost Solutions. It addressed how the SBC Executive Committee (EC) handled allegations of sexual abuse within the denomination from 2000 to 2021. The report brought to light significant findings regarding the mishandling of abuse cases, lack of care for victims, and systemic issues within the SBC.According to this report in Religion News Service, Queen, a pastor in the Friendly Avenue Baptist Church in Greensboro, North Carolina, had originally pleaded not guilty when charged with obstruction of justice for actions taken when he was a professor and interim provost at Southwestern, a Southern Baptist Convention school in Texas.
Here are the key points from the Guidepost Report:
- Failure to Address Abuse Claims: The SBC EC was found to have often ignored, minimized, or dismissed allegations of sexual abuse. The report highlighted a culture of silence, where abuse claims were not properly investigated or acted upon, and leaders were more focused on protecting the denomination from liability than addressing the needs of the victims.
- Lack of Support for Victims: Many survivors of abuse within SBC churches reported feeling marginalized and ignored when they sought help. Some even faced backlash for coming forward with their stories. The EC was shown to have resisted calls to implement measures that would support victims or hold abusers accountable.
- Secret List of Abusers: One of the most shocking revelations was that a secret list of known abusers had been maintained by the SBC EC but had not been made public or used to prevent further abuse. This list contained hundreds of names of individuals credibly accused of abuse, yet no meaningful actions were taken to inform congregations or ensure the safety of church members.
- Culture of Secrecy and Power: The investigation uncovered a power structure within the SBC that discouraged transparency and accountability. Leaders were more concerned with protecting the institution's reputation than with addressing the widespread problem of abuse, creating an environment where abuse could continue unchecked.
- Recommendations for Reform: The report concluded with a series of recommendations aimed at improving the SBC’s response to abuse allegations. These included establishing a permanent, independent commission to oversee abuse claims, increasing transparency, providing more support for victims, and taking proactive steps to prevent abuse within SBC churches.
The release of the Guidepost Report led to widespread calls for reform within the SBC, as well as ongoing efforts to address systemic issues of abuse and accountability within the denomination. It also prompted the SBC to begin implementing some of the recommendations, including releasing the names from the secret list of abusers. However, the process of change within the denomination remains complex and ongoing.
This report was a pivotal moment in the ongoing conversation about how religious institutions handle allegations of sexual abuse and how they can better care for survivors.
Federal officials had been investigating allegations of sexual abuse at the seminary and had required officials to hand over any documents related to abuse. However, an unnamed seminary official 'Employee-2' allegedly ordered another employee, 'Emplyee-1' to destroy documents relating to a 2022 abuse case in which seminary officials knew of sexual abuse but did nothing about it.
Federal officials had claimed Queen witnessed Employee-2 give the instruction to Employee-1 (the person who wrote the report) and then lied to investigators about it and made fake notes concerning the conversation to try to mislead the investigators. Queen later changed his story under oath. According to the court filing:
On or about June 21, 2023, MATTHEW QUEEN, the defendant, testified under oath that on January 26, 2023, he had in fact heard Employee-2 instruct Employee-I to make the Document ‘go away’.
The SBC and its entities have been under investigation since the Guidepost report found that the SBC had long mistreated abuse survivors and downplayed the issue of abuse. The SBC is America's largest Protestant denomination. The Guidepost report and the resulting lawsuits has placed the SBC in sever financial difficulties to the extent that the Nashville-based Executive Committee has had to place its offices on the property market.
Meanwhile the identity of Employee-2 has not been identified but Terri Stovall, 'Emplyee-1', the seminary’s dean of women, has come forward as the person who wrote the initial report on the 2022 abuse case. Stovall, according to school officials, refused to destroy the report.
The SBC has now said it will continue to cooperate with investigating FBI officials and is praying for the victims of abuse and for Pastor Matt Queen, who tried to obstruct and mislead those officials seeking justice for the church's sexual abuse victims.
But of course, had those who abused their positions of trust to sexually abused vulnerable adults and children really believed a judgmental god who would later call them to account had told them to treat others as they would wish to be treated, then there would have been no victims of their abuse in the first place. For those hypocrites, religion was merely providing a cover for their predatory behaviour and not providing them with a moral framework for interpersonal behaviour at all - or maybe they believed they could just 'confess' later and have the sin counter zeroed.
Unlike non-believers, who believe they are accountable to those whom they wrong, pious theists believe they are accountable to a conveniently forgiving invisible friend who, in return for a few magic words, lets them off their wrongs with no need to confront their victims or make amends.
Ten Reasons To Lose Faith: And Why You Are Better Off Without It
This book explains why faith is a fallacy and serves no useful purpose other than providing an excuse for pretending to know things that are unknown. It also explains how losing faith liberates former sufferers from fear, delusion and the control of others, freeing them to see the world in a different light, to recognise the injustices that religions cause and to accept people for who they are, not which group they happened to be born in. A society based on atheist, Humanist principles would be a less divided, more inclusive, more peaceful society and one more appreciative of the one opportunity that life gives us to enjoy and wonder at the world we live in.
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