Prominent evangelical writer and teacher Beth Moore has said she is no longer a Southern Baptist, a split that comes after her criticism of sexism in the church and the condemnation of ‘Trumpism’.
“I’m still a Baptist, but I can no longer identify with Southern Baptists,” Moore, founder of Living Proof Ministries, told a Tuesday.
“I love so many Southern Baptist people, so many Southern Baptist churches, but I do not identify with the things in our heritage that have not been left behind in the past,” she said.
Living Proof Ministries, founded by Moore in 1994, guides women who want to base their lives on evangelical principles.
Moore, who is based in Houston, spoke out against sexism and misogyny inside and outside the church. She has revealed that she is one of the many women who have been sexually abused and harassed, and she said “we are tired of it.”
In 2016, after Donald Trump’s recording of Donald Trump was announced, Moore called on people to ‘wake up’.
In December, she tweeted: “I have never seen anything in this United States of America that has found the saints of God more than surprisingly seductive and dangerous than Trumpism. This Christian nationalism is not of God. Move back from it.”
In a 2018 blog post titled “A Letter to My Brothers”, Moore describes her experience as a female leader in the conservative evangelical world and having to learn to show “continuous expressed respect” because of her contempt and dismissal and attitudes among important Christians. leaders “who slapped on misogyny, objectification and astonishing contempt for women.”
Moore, 63, was in trouble because of her comments. She told Religion News Service that she did not feel welcome at the Southern Baptist Convention in 2019, where she spoke at a panel on abuse and that things have gotten worse since then.
Moore also told the point of sale that she had terminated her publication agreement with Lifeway, although it would still distribute her books.
Representatives from the Nashville, Tennessee-based organization, did not immediately respond to an email for comment Tuesday night.
Southern Baptists is the largest Protestant denomination in the United States. The event listed a total membership of 14.5 million in its latest annual report.
