Southern Baptist leader ousted as seminary president after saying women should pray for their abusive husbands

A top Southern Baptist leader was ousted this week as the head of his seminary after he was widely criticized for saying that women who are abused by their husbands should pray for them and that women should “be submissive in every way that you can.”

The New York Times reported Wednesday that the board of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary had voted to remove Paige Patterson as the leader of the Forth Worth, Texas, institution.

{mosads}“After much prayer and a more than 13-hour discussion regarding challenges facing the institution, including those of enrollment, financial, leadership and institutional identity, the Board determined to move in the direction of new leadership,” the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary board said in a statement on Tuesday.

The board did not reference Patterson’s comments or criticism of him in its statement.

Patterson will be given the status of president emeritus and will live on campus as a “theologian-in-residence” for a new Baptist Heritage Center. He will be compensated for the role.

Patterson, a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, has come under fire in recent weeks after videos showing his past comments on women were circulated.

More than 3,200 Southern Baptist women signed an open letter demanding Patterson’s resignation earlier this month, shortly after his comments first emerged.

The Washington Post also reported on Tuesday that Patterson allegedly told a woman, who said she was raped at a different Baptist seminary where he was serving as president at the time, that she shouldn’t file a police report and to forgive her assailant.

Patterson apologized last month for the way his comments about abused women not divorcing their husbands “has brought hurt.” He did not apologize for making the remarks or the beliefs, according to the Times.

Some women who had criticized Patterson told the Times that the board’s move didn’t go far enough, but said that the “Me Too” movement likely contributed to his removal as president.