Southern Baptist Leader Fired After Revelation That He Sought To “Break Down” Student For Reporting Rape

The Tennessean reports:

A Texas seminary fired a prominent Southern Baptist leader earlier this week for mishandling allegations from two students who said they were raped. Paige Patterson, who was terminated from his top post at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, told the head of campus security that he wanted to meet alone with a student who told him she was raped in order to “break her down,” said Kevin Ueckert, the chairman of the seminary’s board of trustees, in a statement.

Patterson made that request in the 2015 case via email and its contents were shared with the board on May 22, said Ueckert, in the statement released Friday. The new details about what led to the ousting of the storied leader in the evangelical denomination come two days after the seminary fired him. “The attitude expressed by Dr. Patterson in that email is antithetical to the core values of our faith and to SWBTS,” Ueckert said.

More from the Washington Post:

On May 22, the seminary’s trustees demoted the 75-year-old Patterson from his position as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, citing vague reasons about his leadership that did not include mention of comments about or treatment of women. Many Southern Baptists considered that decision too lenient because it allowed Patterson to remain on staff as “president emeritus” with compensation and the ability to retire on campus.

Patterson has now been been stripped of pay and benefits. News of his treatment of women first spawned national headlines early last month when it was revealed that he had preached that it’s “biblical” for men to lust after underage girls.