A prominent Southern Baptist Church leader who is known to have made inappropriate comments about abuse and women’s bodies was removed from his position early Wednesday after thousands of evangelical women signed a petition calling for his ouster. More than 3,200 women affiliated with Southern Baptist churches and beyond signed a petition calling for “decisive action” this month. “We are further grieved by the dangerous and unwise counsel given by Dr. Patterson to women in abusive situations. And he reportedly encouraged a woman who had been sexually assaulted not to go to the police and instead told her to forgive the assailant, the woman told The Washington Post. A petition defending him, which garnered almost 600 signatures, referred to the resurfacing of Patterson’s past comments as “malicious attacks” and “wrong.”

Source: Huffington Post May 23, 2018 12:00 UTC