Southern Baptist leader Paige Patterson fights back after critics savage his advice to abused women

Senior Southern Baptist Paige Patterson is under fire after an audio recording from 2000 resurfaced in which he appears to argue that abused women should stay with violent husbands and submit to them.

Patterson is president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas and has served as president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). 

As part of a presentation he gave to a meeting sponsored by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, which advocates 'complementarianism' – the view that women should submit to men in the home and the church – Patterson answered a question about whether women physically abused by their husbands should still 'submit' to them. He replied: 'It depends on the level of abuse, to some degree,' adding, 'I have never in my ministry counseled anyone to seek a divorce, and that's always wrong counsel.'

But, he says: 'There have been, however, an occasion or two when the level of the abuse was serious enough, dangerous enough, immoral enough that I have counseled temporary separation and the seeking of help.'

He also used the example of a women he had counselled, telling her to pray every night asking for God to intervene.

'And I said, "Get ready, because he may get a little more violent, you know, when he discovers this,"' Patterson said.

'And sure enough, he did,' he said. 'She came to church one morning with both eyes black, and she was angry – at me, and at God and the world, for that matter. And she said, "I hope you're happy."'

'And I said, "Yes, ma'am, I am. I'm sorry about that, but I'm very happy."

He continued: 'What she didn't know when we sat down in church that morning was that her husband had come in and was standing at the back... When I gave the invitation that morning, he was the first one down to the front. His heart was broken, and he said, "My wife's praying for me, and I can't believe what I did to her." He said, "Do you think God could forgive somebody like me?" He's a great husband today, and it all came about because she sought God on a regular basis.'

He continues: 'Remember, when nobody else can help, God can. And in the meantime, you have to do what you can at home to be submissive in every way that you can.'

Patterson – a leading conservative voice who helped steer the denomination decisively to the right – has been fiercely criticised both from outside and within the SBC. Billy Graham's grandson Boz Tchividjian linked to the recording and tweeted: 'Baptist leader instructs woman with abusive husband to stay with him, submit to him, and pray for him. And we wonder why so many abuse victims are suffering in silence inside our churches.'

Russell Moore, president of the SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, tweeted without naming Patterson but evidently referring to the case: 'A woman being abused should leave the house and call the police. The state should prosecute the abuser and the church should discipline him.' He also said: 'The Bible teaches, in my view, that divorce is ethical in cases of sexual immorality (Matt. 5:32) or abandonment (1 Cor. 7:25). Abuse makes a home unsafe and constitutes abandonment.'

Leading religion commentator Jonathan Merritt wrote in the Washington Post that the Southern Baptist Convention should take action. 'The denomination, which has never passed a resolution on sexual harassment and has not passed a resolution on domestic violence since 1979, is often criticized for its conservative doctrines regarding women. The denomination holds that wives must submit to husbands and that only men can be church pastors, beliefs that progressive critics claim opens the door to the oppression of women and even domestic abuse. If Southern Baptists choose not to take a strong stand in this moment, it will lend credence to such charges,' he said. 

Patterson himself issued a statement on his attitude to domestic violence in which he regretted causing hurt but reiterated his view that divorce was always wrong.

He said: 'For the record, I have never been abusive to any woman. I have never counseled or condoned abuse of any kind. I will never be a party to any position other than that of the defense of any weaker party when subjected to the threat of a stronger party. This certainly includes women and children. Any physical or sexual abuse of anyone should be reported immediately to the appropriate authorities, as I have always done.'

He continued: 'I have also said that I have never recommended or prescribed divorce. How could I as a minister of the Gospel? The Bible makes clear the way in which God views divorce. I have on more than one occasion counseled and aided women in leaving an abusive husband. So much is this the case that on an occasion during my New Orleans pastorate, my own life was threatened by an abusive husband because I counseled his wife, and assisted her, in departing their home to seek protection. In short, I have no sympathies at all for cowardly acts of abuse toward women.'

He told Baptist Press that he doubted whether a person of either gender experiencing physical abuse would ever be morally obliged to remain in the home with their spouse. Yet, he said, 'minor non-injurious abuse [sic] which happens in so many marriages' – and which does not make the wife fear for her safety – might spur a woman to 'pray [her husband] through this' rather than leave.