Moore’s criticism of the 45th president’s abusive behavior toward women and her advocacy for sexual abuse victims turned her from a beloved icon to a pariah in the denomination she loved all her life. She also fulfilled other unwritten rules for popular women’s speakers on the Christian circuit: She was attractive, slim, married and a mom.
Let’s begin with the actual RNS story, which begins with how Moore was considered the model Southern Baptist because of her powerful Bible studies that ministered to millions, but didn’t cross paths with the denomination’s strictures against women preaching. Rather, it’s become a judgment on an entire denomination about how it’s handled women’s issues, sexual abuse and former President Donald Trump. Why? Because it’s not just about one celebrity Christian pulling up the stakes. Since then, the news has been pounced on by the religion-writing teams at the New York Times and Washington Post, industry publications such as Christianity Today and a variety of Southern Baptist outlets. Moore was fleeing the ship and Smietana was the lucky scribe who got to break the story. According to several of his tweets, a spokeswoman for the sometimes reclusive Moore called him, asking if he’d like an interview. Naturally, he wondered if there was more to it.
Someone (there?) tipped him off about a March 3 tweet by Lifeway’s biggest author, Beth Moore, saying she had cut her ties with the organization. Smietana had spent several years writing for the Southern Baptist-owned Lifeway Research. On the heels of that story was an exposé on Christian finance guru Dave Ramsey written by Bob Smietana, the former Religion News Service editor-in-chief-turned-national-reporter. Capitol that included some conservative religious folks. So far, 2021 has been pretty hospitable for some good religion stories, beginning with a Jan.
0 kommentar(er)
