A Southwestern Seminary board meeting that was widely expected to affirm Paige Patterson’s Awesome Godliness was thrown into chaos yesterday when the Washington Post moved a story, shortly after the meeting began, alleging that Patterson counseled a female student at Southeastern Seminary to not report being raped by another seminary student.
In the event, the meeting lasted more than 13-hours and Patterson was appointed President Emeritus, effective immediately.
Prominent Southern Baptist leader Paige Patterson was removed from his job as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary amid an evangelical #MeToo moment: a massive backlash from women upset over comments he made in the past that are being newly perceived as sexist and demeaning. In a brief statement early Wednesday, the seminary’s board of trustees made him president emeritus but did not state a reason for his removal.
Since Patterson is such a celebrity within the SBC for his role in the so-called Conservative Resurgence, there was never much realistic expectation that his disdainful treatment of women would get him fired; many of the trustees doubtless believe and behave the same, and it is probably the unexpected appearance of the Washington Post story that led to his downfall.
Patterson departs office with the honorific and no formal record of his discreditable conduct. Since there was no way the board could have gotten away with firing Patterson without igniting a riot by the geriatrics who think he is a Great Man, easing him up is probably all they could do.