Moderates win the day in close vote over Southern Baptist presidency
CNN
Alabama pastor Ed Litton will be the next president of the Southern Baptist Convention following a narrow election win Tuesday -- a victory for the more moderate establishment against a conservative insurgency in an ongoing fight within the nation's largest Protestant denomination.
The vote comes as the SBC has been grappling with questions about racial reconciliation, gender roles within the clergy and how to handle sex abuse cases. Litton defeated the favored candidate of conservative Southern Baptists, Georgia pastor Mike Stone, in a runoff, receiving support from 52% of the delegates (called "messengers") to the SBC's annual meeting in Nashville. "My prayers and congratulations are with Pastor Ed Litton as Southern Baptists continue to serve our churches and our communities," said Stone in a statement Tuesday evening.
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