FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) – A prominent Southern Baptist Convention leader has been removed as president of a Texas seminary following allegations that he made abusive and demeaning comments to women.
The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary board of trustees said in a statement that 75-year-old Paige Patterson was removed Wednesday following a 13-hour meeting.
The statement says the board decided to “to move in the direction of new leadership.”
Patterson is accused of commenting on a teenage girl’s body, saying female seminarians should work to look attractive and that abused women should almost always stay with their husbands.
Patterson rose to prominence in the 1970s while leading a conservative takeover of the Baptist Convention. He helped to pass resolutions banning women as pastors and taught that women should be submissive to their husbands.
