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A reckoning is coming for Southern Baptists this week.

More than 16,000 Southern Baptists are in Nashville, Tenn., for the denomination’s national convention – the most high-profile gathering in years. The already conservative denomination is

 an ultraconservative faction within itself that says Southern Baptists are drifting too far left.

What happens next has the potential to further splinter an already divided evangelical America.

Issues the Southern Baptists will vote on include race, women’s roles in the church, and how to handle sex abuse. Sex abuse survivors will be paying special attention to that last one, since

 a letter written by former Southern Baptist leader Russell Moore

 was leaked earlier this month. It alleged that sex abuse claims have been mishandled and dismissed by SBC leaders for years and described in detail how many leaders bucked the call for sexual abuse reforms.  

On Tuesday, the day the convention begins, host Kerri Miller spoke with two women who’ve been watching the SBC’s response to sexual abuse victims for years. They fear that their pleas for reform will once again be ignored. 

To listen to the full conversation you can use the audio player above.

Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast on: 

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America’s largest Protestant denomination is embroiled in controversy as it holds its national convention this week. Issues of race and leftward drift will dominate. Will sexual abuse survivors, who are still waiting for the church to respond in a substantial way to their pleas, be ignored again?

A fight for the soul of the Southern Baptist Convention

Go Deeper.

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