I admire Beth Moore's courage this week as she parted ways with her church denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, "citing the “staggering” disorientation of seeing its leaders support Mr. Trump, and the cultural and spiritual fallout from that support," according to the New York Time article on March 10, 2021.
The SBC "has already been embroiled for years in debates not just about Mr. Trump, but about racism, misogyny and the handling of sexual abuse cases."
Moore, herself a victim of sexual abuse, has spoken out before about issues of sexism, especially the way the SBC has often handled allegations of sexual harassment among its pastors and church leaders with a "light hand-slap," which has the effect of denying the reality and real pain that so many women feel who have themselves been victims of sexism in one form or another.
For the SBC to treat two U.S. presidents--Clinton and Trump, both of whom committed similar sexual harassment crimes, in such a completely different manner (excusing Trump's multiple instances of sexual harassment while coming down hard on Clinton's), illustrates not only its hypocrisy as a church that claims to follow Jesus Christ, but reveals its underlying prioritization of "Nationalism" over "Biblical" values.
This is what Beth Moore finally could no longer tolerate when she "denounced Christian nationalism, the “demonic stronghold” of white supremacy and “the sexism & misogyny that is rampant in segments of the SBC” on Twitter to her 950,000 followers.
Yes, the Church is made up of human beings, human beings who are fallible, who can make bad judgments, who can be led astray by run-away pride, and who render decisions that are unjust and unfair. History demonstrates that even within the church, which claims to follow the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, and claims to be led by the Spirit of the Living Christ, church leaders can be led astray by their own human desire for power and control, and deluded by their own faulty beliefs.
But that’s why the BODY of the church needs to be engaged as much as its leaders. It's up to other church leaders and church members to call out and name hypocrisy and corruption in order to continue to re-form and renew the church, prune faulty leadership, and eradicate any destructive, unfair policies, so that it may accurately reflect the life, teachings and Spirit of Jesus.