A lawsuit brought against a senior Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) figure and others has been widened to include the denomination itself.
Retired Texas judge Paul Pressler, 87, was behind the so-called 'conservative resurgence' of the 1980s which saw moderate SBC voices sidelined in favour of conservatives. He is the subject of allegations by Gareld Duane Rollins, who has said Pressler abused him sexually from the late 1970s, when Rollins was 14, to 2004. Pressler has denied all the charges.
Rollins is seeking more than $1 million from the defendants in the case.
Now, according to Baptist Press, an amendment to the original suit has added the SBC, saying it had 'a duty to exercise reasonable care so as to control' Pressler.
Other defendants include Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, its president Paige Patterson, Pressler's wife Nancy, Houston's First Baptist Church – where Rollins was enrolled as a teenager in a Bible study led by Pressler – Pressler's former law partner Jared Woodfill and the Woodfill Law Firm. They have all denied the allegations.
The suit alleges the SBC knew of Pressler's alleged behaviour and concealed it, that it made minors sexually available to him and that it continues 'to assist Pressler through obstruction of justice'.
Pressler has asked for the suit to be dismissed because the statute of limitations has expired on the claims.
