The North American Mission Board (NAMB) is not only taking Will McRaney to court, they’re taking Southern Baptists to the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) by taking a position that threatens the cooperative mission efforts of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). NAMB is asking for legal protection when they defame SBC ministers and interfere with the ministry of all ordained Southern Baptist clergy. If NAMB prevails at SCOTUS it will mean that NAMB can interfere with any organization that cooperates with the SBC (Churches, Associations, State Conventions, etc.), including defaming the leaders of SBC affiliated organizations, and they can do so with legal impunity. Does the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution allow NAMB to do and say whatever they choose about any Southern Baptist minister simply because they’re ordained by a Southern Baptist church? No. And if SCOTUS rules otherwise, God help the SBC.
How did this happen? NAMB first appealed to the U.S. 5th Circuit of Appeals, claiming “absolute rights and privileges” to interfere with the work of an autonomous State Convention, including “defame” its leadership if NAMB chose to do so. They lost that appeal, despite the support of the ERLC in an amicus brief claiming that Southern Baptists are a “hierarchy” with the SBC serving as the “umbrella” over all churches, associations and conventions. This clear deception of a federal court regarding SBC polity has not deterred NAMB and the ERLC from using Southern Baptist mission dollars in an effort to prevail in SCOTUS.
By appealing to SCOTUS, NAMB seeks to prevent disclosure of evidence that precedes trial in a district court. In other words, NAMB is seeking to prevent witnesses from testifying under oath and seeking to prevent the subpoena of records that can be used in a court trial.
NAMB doesn’t describe it this way, of course. NAMB says they are appealing to the SCOTUS to protect all churches. But is that really the case? No. They’re asking for protection for themselves when they injure a Southern Baptist minister through defamation or tortuous interference, acts which are otherwise illegal.
First, NAMB argues that McRaney’s lawsuit against NAMB is “a ministerial employment dispute” (a direct quote from NAMB’s SCOTUS filing). This phrase appears throughout the SCOTUS filing. They further argue, “To prevent such constitutionally impermissible intrusion into church affairs by secular courts, this Court should grant review and reverse.” The problem with NAMB’s argument is that McRaney’s lawsuit is not an employment dispute because he was never employed by NAMB. Neither was he an employee of any entity of the SBC. Neither is the 5th Circuit Court ruling in McRaney’s favor an “intrusion into church affairs.” Rather, one autonomous religious organization, NAMB, is alleged to have interfered with another autonomous religious organization, the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware (BCMD). Moreover, it is further alleged by McRaney that NAMB continued to interfere in his employment opportunities with other autonomous religious organizations, and personally defamed him, after he was fired by the BCMD.
Second, NAMB’s argument to SCOTUS goes even further. I quote, “Allowing secular courts to punish religious organizations with damages awards for tortuously interfering with a minister’s church employment infringes on a ‘religious group’s right to shape its own faith and mission through its appointments.’” Understand what this means for you as a Southern Baptist pastor, Associational leader, etc. This argument is founded on the idea that if you are a “minister” in a Southern Baptist church, association, state convention, etc., NAMB leaders can defame you, interfere with your employment, seek to prevent you from employment in a Southern Baptist ministry, and you have absolutely no legal recourse to seek damages or prevent such defamation and interference.
This means that whoever has the most money and power with which to buy friends and punish critics will “control” the ministries associated with Southern Baptists. I firmly assert to you that this is happening! NAMB is spending millions of dollars every year through grants, gift cards, employment contracts, to purchase friends and protect NAMB leadership from the biggest collapse in ministry effectiveness in the entire history of the SBC.
The ERLC supports NAMB’s argument in their amicus filing to SCOTUS. I quote: “It makes no difference that NAMB and the State Convention are separate legal entities when both are tasked with serving Southern Baptist churches in the same denomination. The First Amendment bars judicial review of ecclesiastical controversies from the same faith community regardless of how those matters arise and regardless of how the faith community is organized.”
So let’s get this straight. The ERLC claims that Southern Baptist organizations that serve Southern Baptist churches are, under the law, not separate and autonomous when it comes to legal jeopardy regardless of our SBC bylaws and constitution. We are just like the Methodists or Roman Catholics, they say. And whoever has the money and the power can run roughshod over a church, association or state convention with absolute legal impunity, simply because we serve the same churches. That’s their argument. NAMB is claiming a right that the SBC Constitution specifically forbids. Not only that, but the SBC is not a denomination. There is no ecclesiastical hierarchy. There is no joint governance in the SBC. There are no SBC churches, for that matter. The annual meeting of the SBC is a gathering of messengers, not churches. But that is the appeal before SCOTUS, so what I think, or what you think, doesn’t matter. Because of NAMB’s appeal, it’s what SCOTUS thinks that matters.
It is time for Southern Baptist leaders to take a stand on this dangerous SCOTUS appeal. The SBC is dealing with several troubling matters right now. Some of these are public and have captured the attention of media. But probably no current matter is as important, and potentially dangerous, as NAMB’s appeal to SCOTUS and the manner in which they and the ERLC are arguing the case. This could change Southern Baptists forever. You may not have read much about it, but many leaders are talking about it behind the scenes. It’s time the talk goes public. It’s time for leaders to take a stand. Where are the voices of the Executive Committee of the SBC? Where are the voices of our entity leaders, SBC officers, pastors, and state executives?
And just so you know how wrong it is for SBC leaders to remain silent in this case, know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, The Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty, and The Islam and Religious Freedom Action Team of the Religious Freedom Institute are not silent. They have joined the ERLC in their Amicus brief.
There is more that can be written about this. But if you want to read the documents yourself, here they are: https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/north-american-mission-board-of-the southern-baptist-convention-inc-v-mcraney/
If you want to contact trustees at NAMB, the ERLC, SBC Executive Committee, or other SBC Trustees, click on these links:
https://www.namb.net/about/trustees/
https://erlc.com/about/contact-us/
https://www.sbc.net/resource-library/trustee-contacts/
