Reaction by Missouri Southern Baptists over the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Executive Committee’s (EC) hiring of a law firm that supports the LGBTQ lifestyle has prompted Pathway readers to respond with phone calls, emails and letters. Such activity by readers is not unusual. But the reaction to this particular story is different. There is genuine concern over how Cooperative Program money is being spent.
I reported in the March 8 print edition of The Pathway that up to $2 million of Cooperative Program funds will be paid by the EC to cover legal fees of its newly retained law firm – one that supports LGBTQ events. Bradley Legal, with offices in Nashville, Dallas and Washington, D.C., supports the Nashville Pride festival, the LGBTQ Bar, and is praised by the Human Rights Campaign, one of the nation’s largest LGBTQ organizations. The law firm sponsored the 2021 Nashville Pride Festival and Parade, an annual event celebrating the LGBTQ lifestyle. Bradley also supports the Human Rights Campaign Nashville Equality Dinner.
The SBC Executive Committee approved up to $2 million in CP reserves to cover its own legal fees associated with the on-going sexual abuse investigation during its Feb. 22 plenary session. Tapping reserves for the charges comports with a mandate of messengers from the 2021 SBC annual meeting that CP funds cover the costs of the investigation. But there is plenty of disagreement:
One Pathway reader responded, “When I read this article I said “WHAT”? I re-read and re-read it over and over. I could not believe the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee made such a decision. Just what are they supposed to do for the churches?”
One reader fears the $2 million could be used to advance LGBTQ causes and threaten our freedom of conscience. “Does that mean they will fight for the churches and their biblical right to preach, teach the Bible, or will they fight against us? I hope this money will not be paid to any lawyers that are part of Bradley Legal. I would find it hard to believe that a biblical-standing lawyer would be a part of an organization that supports LGBTQ advocates.”
Another reader expressed concern over our funding of missionaries.
“I was writing to express my concern over the LGBTQ law firm article. In saying that, our church contributes about $15,000-20,000 a year to the Cooperative Program and we are very concerned about this money potentially going to businesses that support this liberal agenda. We are very committed to the CP. It would be our churches hope that the CP money goes to missionaries, and other Christ-centered missions.”
Bradley Legal was hired after long-time SBC attorney Jim Guenther withdrew his firm from its SBC commitment. Guenther’s withdrawal came about a week after EC members voted to waive attorney-client privilege over 21 years of documents and emails in the investigation into allegations of mishandling of sexual abuse against SBC EC staff and trustees. That decision, Guenther said, “fundamentally changed the understanding that has always existed regarding communications between our firm and the Executive Committee or the Convention.”
Guenther asserted that because the waiver approved by trustees is preemptive and does not deal with specific communications, EC trustees acted “without knowing the effect” their vote would have on the Executive Committee itself, the SBC in general and “those who have served as members or employees of the Executive Committee.
“Because the attorney-client privilege existed, these persons have on occasion shared with us sensitive information which we needed in order to competently represent the Executive Committee,” it said. “Until now, a decision by the Board to waive attorney-client privilege was not reasonably foreseeable. However, going forward we can no longer assure Executive Committee and Convention personnel with whom we work that the privacy of their communications with their lawyers will be secure.
Guenther also decried attempts to portray attorney-client privilege “as an evil device” used to hide misconduct.
“That could not be further from the truth,” it said, calling the practice “a pillar of this country’s jurisprudence and rules of evidence” for centuries.
“There is nothing sinister about [attorney-client privilege],” the letter continued. “It does not corrupt justice; it creates the space for justice.”
The EC’s willingness “to forego this universally accepted principle of confidentiality” left the firm no choice but to withdraw, it said. The respected Guenther had served the SBC since 1966.
If the issue remains unresolved, it is hard to imagine it not being an issue when messengers meet in Anaheim, Calif., in June for the SBC’s annual meeting. Meanwhile the story is ignored by Baptist Press and most state convention newspapers. The Pathway will keep you posted.