Question:  What happens when the president of a major Baptist institution of higher education gets caught in a fundamental failure to respond adequately to a sex assault on campus?

Answer:  Ask Ken Starr.

CNN reported almost 2 years ago today, click here to read more.

Oh, and remember when Bill Clinton had to apologize for what he’d done, even using the word “sin” and “repent?”  And remember how Paige Patterson called for his resignation even after that apology “so that he will not put our nation through the further financial difficulties and public embarrassment of extensive revelations of his own conduct.”

And remember how Paige Patterson and Bill Clinton both called their actions “inappropriate?”  And remember what former SBC President Bailey Smith had to say about that?

Note: This post has been scheduled to publish at the original deadline given.

The editor of the New Mexico Baptist paper and self-described “State Missionary,” Kevin Parker, sent a series of questions via email on Friday seeking responses for an article he’s writing. I agreed to get him responses in time for his stated deadline of Monday afternoon.  This morning, in response to an email from me, he informed me that he would not be able to include my responses in the print edition but would “try to incorporate” them into the online release of his story.

Well, since changing deadlines and altered expectations rule the day in New Mexico, we’ll just publish his questions and our answers here. The text of the original email (including typos, grammatical errata, and syntactical anomalies) is below; responses are in bold, red:

——–

Ben,

Thanks for your call. Below are some key questions from my collection. Feel free to answer “in line.” I’m really interested in “on the record” responses. I have no intention to promote or trap you or your blog and issues, but it is good for people to hear individuals in their own words when possible. I will treat your responses however you indicate.

• For clarification, are you the creator and writer behind baptistblog.wordpress.com and the now defunct sbcoutpost.com?
• Seriously? I stopped doing people’s homework for them in the 7th grade. But the Google machine usually works. Try this link. 
• Reports indicate that you are no longer a Baptist and that you now attend the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, where you practice the catholic faith. Other reports have as still being a member at Wade Burleson’s church. Can you clarify your religious and church status?
• What reports? I haven’t seen any reports?  Oh, wait, you mean gossip? But to answer your question, I enjoy Christian fellowship and ministry service opportunities across a wide spectrum of classically orthodox faith traditions. I am, however, a member in good standing of a Southern Baptist Church that would fire our pastor before midnight if he sexually objectified teenage girls or counseled battered women and rape victims to “submit” to their abusers and not notify the authorities.
• What prompted you to take up the mantle of the Baptist Blogger in February of this year after years of near total silence?
• I got bored one Saturday and thought “state missionaries” in New Mexico might need something to write about.
• Was your April 28th blog post coordinated with Jonathan Merritt, or did he discover it and tweet part of its comments completely on his own?
• I can barely coordinate the tying of my own shoes. Are you coordinating your story with anyone?
• Did you attend the 2000 CBMW Conference in Dallas, and do you have a complete recording of the panel discussion from which the quotation you used and the audio clip you have provided was taken?
• I did not, and I do not.  But I’d rather walk blindfolded into any strip club on Bourbon Street than attend a panel on “biblical womanhood” featuring Paige Patterson. At least the strip club is up front about their views on women.
• Are you aware of or have you investigated if any of the other notable Southern Baptist leaders who also led sessions at the CBMW conference embraced positions similar to those you claim Patterson embraces?
• I don’t have the time to do that.  Isn’t that what “state missionaries” in New Mexico are supposed to be doing with Cooperative Program support?

You in politics appeared promising from 2008 to 2015. About three years ago, that career unfortunately shifted. In an interview with Carol Felsenthal, published in August, 2015, she shared an “edited” and “much condensed” version (excellently done) of your lengthy conversation with her. Among her report, she shared you saying the following about Facebook posts of yours that were considered “very racial.” You said…

“I deeply regret having posted those things. It was just an exercise in poor judgement and shortsightedness on my part.”

“[regarding a video] … And I made flip remarks about it. At the time it seemed like a sense of humor about something that isn’t funny… [description of situation]. I suppose the way I was dealing with some of the frustrations of living in a community that’s in transition was to laugh about it. And that wasn’t the proper response and I deeply regret doing that.”

Felsenthal asked, “So were these [Facebook] comments weighing on you as you worked for Schock?” You replied…

“I didn’t think about [them] at all. I just moved on. It surprised me the week in February [2015] when I was emailed, ‘Here are these things that we culled from your Facebook.’ I quickly found out how those things had been culled from people I believed to be friends and forwarded them on to journalists.”

At the end of the interview, you said to Felsenthal…

“I would ask that you be very judicious about how you reflect upon the Facebook posts, not because I didn’t make them, but because it’s awful, and it’s painful to see [them] regurgitated. … It was bad humor, something I thought was clever, and it just wasn’t.”

Paige Patterson, in responding to the “resurfacing” of the 2000 clip and other information, has said…

“For sharing this illustration, especially in the climate of this culture, I was probably unwise.”

“I express my deepest regret. … I do greatly regret that the way I expressed that conviction has brought hurt.”

“I wish to apologize to every woman who has been wounded by anything I have said that was in appropriate or that lacked clarity. We live in a world of hurt and sorrow, and the last thing that I need to do is add to anyone’s heartache. Please forgive the failure to be as thoughtful and careful in my extemporaneous expression as I should have been.”

“To all people I offer my apology, but especially to women, to the family of Southern Baptist, my friends and the churches. I sincerely pray that somehow this apology will show my heart and may strengthen you in the love and graciousness of Christ.”

There is some measure of similarity in your responses to your respective situations (yours and Patterson’s).

• Can you comment on the similarity of your two situations of having said something in the past that you deeply regret now, but felt right about at the time?
• Can you comment on the similarity of both of you having people, whom you considered “friends,” later take actions to publicize information and cause you difficulty?
• Can you comment on how both of you originally thought your comments were humorous in some fashion; but, later others claimed them to be “profoundly hurtful?”
• I’ll give you one big difference: I resigned immediately.  Oh, and I wasn’t the president of a Southern Baptist seminary.  So, yeah, I guess the situations are about the same.

I went ahead and included all of my most critical questions. I look forward to your responses and will hang onto your number in case we need to touch base on Monday.

Sincerely,

Dr. Kevin Parker, State Missionary
Media Services Director and Editor
Baptist Convention of New Mexico

One last question for you, Dr. Parker.  Does the Baptist Convention of New Mexico receive support from the North American Mission Board for your work?