Paige Patterson and the Rape Victim He Shamed

I have permission to tell you this story.

Last Sunday night, May 20, 2018, I was resting in my chair after a long day. I typically read or write to relax, so I was multi-tasking when a "ding" sounded on my computer, informing me of a new email.

I ignored it.

After a few minutes, several additional "dings" indicated it was time to check my email.

As is my custom, I began to scan the first email quickly since it would take too long to read each email carefully.

I raced through the following email.

_________________________________

May 20, 2018, at 6:48 PM

Hello Mr. Burleson,

A student ( along with others, I am afraid- I don’t have confirmation yet) was raped while Paige Patterson was president at SEBTS. I was a student at the time, working on my MDiv from 2002-2005.

I confirmed this week the attacker admitted to the awful act back in 2004-it’s documented. He was expelled and told he could never attend any of the 6 SBC seminaries in the future.

The worst part. The student (victim) was counseled by Dr. Patterson and told she shouldn’t go to the police....

There was more to the email, but I stopped reading. I shouldn't have, but I did. When "I have a friend" or "I don't have confirmation..."  is written, I know after thirteen years of writing about the unbiblical, authoritarian, anti-women, approach by SBC leaders, there's not much I can do. Confirmation is needed.

However, the treatment this person's friend allegedly received from Dr. Paige Patterson is consistent with his belief system regarding women and the church (as I'll show you below). I stopped reading and fired off a short "Reply" which contained the following bullet points.

_________________________________

Dear _______,

I would suggest that your friend move QUICKLY. I would not be surprised if documents are being destroyed.

I would suggest that the young lady go to the police and file a report. Second, I would suggest she get an attorney and follow his or her counsel.

Third (if counsel allows), I would go public with the accusation.

If the young lady wishes to remain anonymous and NOT go through an attorney, I would go public ASAP.

You are her confirmation. She will be protected, and she could remain anonymous.

I typed quickly and sent the email.

My wife asked, "To whom are you writing?"  I pulled up the email I had received. "Listen to this." I began reading to Rachelle the contents of the email. I read it out loud. This time, when I came to the place where I'd initially stopped reading, I continued and found myself reading out loud these words:

I know. Because the student was me.

My wife and I looked at each other simultaneously. Rachelle said, "Oh...my...word."

I immediately sent another email and apologized for not reading to the end and for missing that the writer was the rape victim. I gave my cell number and asked her to call.

Within a few minutes, the woman called. Over the course of the next few hours, in both conversations and several emails, my wife and I had our hearts broken by this courageous Christian mother and wife as she shared her story.

The recent controversy surrounding Paige Patterson's counsel to an abused woman to go back to her abusive husband and submit to him,  trusting God rather reporting the abuse to authorities, had opened a deep wound in this woman's heart.

In 2003, she was an M.Div student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. She told us that one night, she was sexually and brutally attacked. Screaming and fighting the attacker means its nonconsensual.

I was determined not to ask specifics of the attack, so it was only hours later after several follow-up emails that the full scope of the sexual assault was clear. When my wife finally understood what had actually happened, she struggled to comprehend President Paige Patterson's response to the assault.

The rape victim reported the assault to Dr. Alan Mosely (see Washington Post article). Dr. Mosely worked in an administration that required all matters like this to be directed to the President's Office. Why? Listen to Paige Patterson's own words from a message he preached in 2013:

• Patterson suggested women who have had “a problem in your home” should not bring their case to a judge because it could get in the way of that judge becoming a Christian.
• “Settle it within the church of God,” he said. “And if you suffer for it, and if you were misused, and if you were abused, and if you’re not represented properly, it’s okay. You can trust it to the God who judges justly.”
• He then prayed, “Lord, may we make up our minds that we won’t take our troubles to the press, we won’t take our troubles to the government, we won’t take our troubles anywhere except to the people of God and beyond that to the Lord Jesus.”

Within an hour of reporting the assault, Paige Patterson contacted the woman and asked her to "come to my office." If you've ever been in Paige Patterson's office, you know that there are a lot of trophy game, dead animals that are displayed. As the rape victim recounted to us her story, I had a visual in my mind of this 23-year-old walking into the den of death.

I asked her, "Did anybody go with you?

"No," she told my wife and me over the speakerphone, "I went by myself."

When the rape victim arrived, Paige Patterson introduced the traumatized woman to three men in the office, men Patterson introduced as "my proteges."

I am reserving details about that interrogation until I am able to speak with the other men in the room.  What I can say is that this woman, after being traumatized to reveal every sordid detail of the assault to four men, was told by Dr. Paige Patterson not to go to legal authorities.

I believed her story immediately.

Dr. Patterson practices what he preaches. He keeps everything in the church.

The most succinct and graphic depiction of what the rape victim felt from that meeting is found in the Washington Post article by Sarah Pulliam:

"They shamed the crap out of me, asking me question after question. He (Dr. Patterson) didn’t necessarily say it was my fault, but [the sense from him was] I let him into my home.”

This rape victim was placed on probation by the seminary for having a man in her apartment.

That's consistent with the bizarre theology of women held by Paige Patterson.

A woman divorcing a man is far worse than a woman enduring physical abuse. A single woman inviting a man into her apartment is a far worse sin than a single woman being raped by the man she invited over.

It is being reported to me that Dr. Patterson is telling others that he has no memory of this woman or any meeting with her. However, the official statement of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary issued this morning states:

"Evidence exists that Dr. Patterson has complied with reporting laws regarding assault and abuse."

"What does that mean?" That's the question the rape victim asked me about three hours ago.


Punishment for the Perpetrator

According to the rape victim, campus security parked in front of her apartment until the perpetrator was apprehended. School administrators told the rape victim that the man who committed the assault was being expelled from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. They told the victim that the perpetrator would never be allowed to enter any of the other five Southern Baptist seminaries.

He was escorted off the campus by school security.

For the next few years, the rape victim suffered through much shame, depression, and difficult personal times. She eventually left the seminary in 2005.

Documentation exists at Southeastern Seminary that details the confession of the perpetrator and the punishment mandated by the school. There are a few people who would like to see the documentation that proves Dr. Patterson complied with reporting laws. According to the Washington Post, law enforcement has no record of a reported rape on the campus of Southeastern Seminary during this time.

There are reasons to believe that two others were raped at Southeastern during this same time period (see the rape victims first email at the top). The victim had been trying for over a week to get in touch with the two others girls that she suspects had also been sexually assaulted.

I've read on social media unconfirmed reports of more recent sexual assaults on seminary campuses. I've been told that the victims were also counseled not to involve law enforcement. "Let Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary handle it."

That's right. Southwestern. Of course, these are unconfirmed reports, and nobody should assume they are true unless a victim finds the strength to come forward. It's not easy when churchmen are telling you to be quiet and let God deal with it.

Time will tell if similar counsel has been given to other sexual assault victims. Truth and time are invariably bound:

"For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open" (Luke 8:17).

Stained glass windows in the images of a living people should never be placed in houses of worship because clay feet stumble too frequently and easily.


Private Attempts to Have Paige Patterson Removed

The goal of this rape victim coming forward was not to sue anyone. She didn't even want law enforcement involved. Ironically, the perpetrator had sought her out over a decade after the assault and sought her forgiveness, which she granted. I explained to her that there is a difference between forgiveness of the perpetrator and accountability for the perpetrator. I told her if the perpetrator's name comes out in the media, don't feel bad. I truly admired her ability to forgive.

Here's what's interesting (ladies, don't be offended). This rape victim is not a fan of the MeToo movement. She is as biblically conservative as they come. She loves Jesus. She understands grace. She's married to a strong, loving man. Before she began making private contact with SBC officials, she sat down with her husband and revealed to him she'd been raped when in seminary. As you might imagine, that was difficult. But her husband's response of comfort, encouragement, and acceptance only confirmed to her how deep true love can be.

She'd been trying for several days to get documentation that the rape occurred. She'd been told by Kevin Ueckert, the Chairman of the Trustees of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, that documentation was needed. Before she ever contacted me on Sunday, she'd spoken with Kevin and also with Danny Akin, the current President of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

The rape victim was particularly concerned that I know that Danny Akin had been "kind, compassionate, and helpful to me." She expressed her gratefulness for his leadership.

She told me that school officials at SEBTS could not give her documentation that the rape had occurred. Having trouble reconciling Akin's kindness and good leadership with the institution's refusal to give the necessary documentation, I explained. "There is a fine balance that Dr. Akin is walking right now. He has only been contacted by you in the recent days. I know he is doing all he can, but because of legal implications for the institution, there are certain lines that he will be unable to cross. You will be able to get the documents, but it will involve a lawsuit."

I want every Southern Baptist to listen carefully to what this woman said next.

"Again, Wade, I don't want to sue. I don't want law enforcement involved. I should have gone to the authorities back when it happened, and it's my fault that I didn't."

Your fault? I thought to myself. "Dr. Patterson told you not to go."

"I know. But I should have been stronger. I guess at 23, sitting in the office with those four men, which included the President of the school, a man I looked up to as my authority, I trusted their counsel. Looking back, I guess I didn't know any better."

She regrets she didn't go to the police. They would have obtained physical evidence that the assault had occurred.  For the first few years after the rape, she struggled with guilt, depression, and shame. She would eventually drop out of seminary.

I said to her, "Some people are going to say, 'Why Paige Patterson?' Why is your focus on him? Why not the man who raped you."

She responded:

"Dr. Patterson doesn't believe he did anything wrong." 

This rape victim is brighter than many of our Southern Baptist pastors. In spite of her heartache and pain over the past fifteen years, she understands that you can't excise a tumor unless you know you have one; you can't get treatment unless you know you're sick.

Southern Baptists have got to come to the understanding that there is a systemic disease within our Convention. We have a warped, unbiblical, unChristian view of women. Many leaders wrongly teach that men are made in the image of God; women are made in the image of men.

Women submit; men rule - that's what would lead someone like Paige Patterson to keep "everything in the church" - including the rape of a woman - because men know best how to lead a woman.


The Washington Post

The rape victim really didn't want to reach out to me. She said she'd followed my blog for a while, but she didn't know me, and she did not want this issue to be made public.

"If they'd only given me the documentation that the rape had occurred and that I was told not to go the police, I wouldn't have contacted you."

She'd read a post I placed online Sunday night, May 20, 2018, entitled All Eyes on the Trustees of Southwestern Seminary. I suggested that many trustees of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary received their positions due to friendship for, loyalty with, or employment under Paige Patterson.

The rape victim felt the trustees would not remove Dr. Patterson over his well-established inappropriate comments about women and abuse, and because SEBTS couldn't or wouldn't provide her any documentation over her rape, she felt the trustees might "overlook" what Dr. Patterson had said and done and not hold him accountable.

"I want you to write my story. You are a better writer than I am." 

I told her that I would, but on only one condition. Both she and her husband would have final approval, and if at any time they back out, all they had to do is let me know and I would not post it.

I also made a promise to keep her name confidential.

Over the course of the next several hours, well until after midnight, I worked on a story that I planned, with her and her husband's permission, to post on Monday. The victim sent me several emails with details of the events and people involved.

But around midnight, after reading what I'd written, and talking via phone a couple of times with a friend, I decided that this story was too big for my little blog. There were sources that needed to be checked, legal issues that needed to be resolved. I became convinced that the best people to write the story, check sources, and cross every legal hurdle were those who do this kind of thing all the time.

Back in 2005/2006 when loyal Patterson/Pressler trustees on the International Mission Board sought to remove me as a trustee and ruin my life and career for opposing Paige Patterson's attempts to fire Jerry Rankin and all the women in leadership at the IMB, I became acquainted with a reporter named Sarah Pulliam.

At the time, Sarah worked for Christianity Today and ran several articles on the imbroglio involving me at the International Mission Board.

Sarah now works on religious issues at the Washington Post. She's an evangelical. She understands Southern Baptists. She's an excellent reporter. It was well after midnight when I spoke to Sarah, and with the victim's permission, I put the two in contact with one another.

Sarah's story entitled Southern Baptist Leader Encouraged a Woman Not to Report Alleged Rape to Police came out at 3:00 pm Central Time, Tuesday afternoon, May 22, 2018.


The SWBTS Trustee Meeting, Tuesday, May 22, 2018, in Fort Worth, Texas

The Washington Post knows how to do reporting. I had nothing to do with the article. I wasn't interviewed. My name wasn't in the article.

I did nothing except connect a reporter with a victim.

One of the advantages of writing a blog for 13 years and consistently pointing out problems in the Southern Baptist Convention is that people want to tell you their stories. I don't write gossip. I don't write lies. I don't write slander.

I tell the truth. And so does the Washington Post.

I've been told that when Paige Patterson spoke to the trustees last night in a full-court press to save his job, his home, his salary, etc... he presented a power point presentation to prove he's "under attack." The problems are never Paige's beliefs or Paige's actions or Paige's leadership. The problem is that evil Wade Burleson, the devil incarnate, and others.

I understand why Paige believes that to be so. He doesn't see that disagreement among Christians shouldn't mean we don't cooperate. You're either for him, or you're against him. You're for God, or with the devil.

Respectfully, SWBTS trustees, I've been telling you for over a decade there are huge problems at your institution and throughout the SBC. Your enrollment numbers stare you in the face every trustee meeting. In dysfunctional systems, the person who asks the questions about the problem becomes the problem to the ones being questioned.

Just ask Nathan Montgomery.

He was fired by Paige Patterson for recommending an article written by Ed Stetzer. Here it is (below).

After last night's board meeting, the trustees issued an official declaration that "The board has not found evidence of misconduct in Nathan Montgomery's employment file."

Why was that statement even necessary?

Because in Paige Patterson's world, the person against him has rotten character. The person who opposes his ideology is a bad person and must be taught a lesson. Teaching that lesson might even include making things up about the person he doesn't like. Things like, "That Nathan Montgomery has a long history of being problematic and indiscreet" - refusing to provide specifics to the reporter to whom President Patterson spoke. But it is on the record. And, Nathan Montgomery saw it.

Rut-roh.

Let's suppose that Nathan Montgomery's employee file is actually super-clean, maybe even "spotless." What do you do?

You issue an official statement attempting to cover the mistake of your President. He publicly said something that actually wasn't true.

In Paige Patterson's world, if you don't like the message, attack the messenger. Truth is unnecessary; an attack, though, is essential.

In the world I live, the truth is essential. Attacks are unnecessary.


An Obscene Graphic Mocking the Rape - 

Within a few short hours after the Post story of the unreported rape went public, a Southern Baptist pastor who is an adherent to Paige Patterson's philosophies went on social media and did something alarming. He's been taught well by his mentor, Paige Patterson. This pastor posted an obscene and graphic picture/comment about a donkey and Wade Burleson (and a few other men I'll not name), stating that he had witnessed these men gang-raping a donkey. His point was that "anybody can say anything" without proof.

I'm not naming the pastor or displaying his obscene post. He called me this morning and apologized.  But I told this pastor that I'm not the one he should be thinking of regarding an apology.

I told this Southern Baptist pastor that the husband of the rape victim saw his post on Twitter. To say the husband of the rape victim was upset is putting it mildly. You might ask the wall that met his hand. Remember, he just found out a few days ago his wife had been raped and no Southern Baptist ministers did anything to help her.

This Southern Baptist pastor said, "You mean the rape really happened?"

I was stunned. Kindly, but firmly, I said to him.

"Listen, you and others who have placed Paige Patterson on a pedestal for his involvement in the Conservative Resurgence and have been so blinded by your hero worship that you can't even consider Paige Patterson might have done something wrong."

The Southern Baptist pastor confirmed that the purpose of his post was to impugn my character (and others), for planting the rape story - released just when trustees were determining the future of Paige Patterson - as a "way to get at Paige Patterson."

He wanted to speak to the couple. I explained why this was impossible. So, this afternoon, the Southern Baptist pastor (whom I shall not name), wrote out this apology:

I found his apology refreshing.

I promised I would help him if his church leaders came after his job.

Trustees, ask yourselves a question. In the closed-door meeting with Dr. Paige Patterson, watching his presentation and listening to him speak, was he taking responsibility for his failures, or was he pointing his finger at someone else?

Why do I ask? Because as long as you have a bunker mentality and think your leader is under assault, you are ignoring the fact that your city is burning to the ground and you're the ones with the keys to the fire trucks.


Every Single SWBTS Trustee Should Apologize Like The Pastor Above

This morning I woke up and read that in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, May 23, 2018, the trustees of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary released the following:

The board passed a motion through a majority vote to appoint Dr. Patterson as President Emeritus with compensation, effective immediately, which he accepted. In addition, the board passed a motion to affirm the trustees’ September 2017 offer for Dr. and Mrs. Patterson to live on campus as the first theologians-in-residence at the Baptist Heritage Center, scheduled to be completed in July 2018.

I was stunned.

I truly thought Dr. Paige Patterson would be terminated. Paige Patterson should be terminated. He should never be allowed to live on school property. He should never be given the title President Emeritus. He should never be given a salary.

He should be fired.

For heaven's sake, when Dr. Russell Dilday was terminated as President of SWBTS in 1994, security changed the locks and escorted him off of the property.

Explain to me why we honor Paige Patterson with titles, a house, maids and chefs, stained glass windows, and a perpetual salary - and we changed the locks on Russel Dilday.

SWBTS trustees, we have a problem.

You seem to be star-gazing rather than number-crunching. Shame on you.

It was fourth and one in a game to save your seminary and you were sacked for a twenty-yard loss.

Is it over?

Nope.

The Southern Baptist Convention has the final say.

A lot of people will be asking you questions in Dallas.

And in the name of a rape victim who is wondering about Southern Baptist pastors and their integrity, I plead with you not to allow Paige Patterson to step foot on that podium in Dallas.

In 2006, I was told by Paige Patterson's disciples at the IMB that I would never again preach in a Southern Baptist Church, never again speak on a Southern Baptist stage, and never again have an ounce of influence in Southern Baptist circles unless I resigned as a trustee.

What they didn't understand is that those things mean nothing to me. I do what I do for the Kingdom. God made me, Patterson missed me, and Christ motivates me.

I'll see you in Dallas.



Postscript

To my new friends, a wonderful couple who shall remain unnamed, but who deserve an anonymous star on the wall of every seminary in the Southern Baptist Convention.

I hope you feel that you've been heard.

I admire your courage. I admire your grace. I admire you both. I hope to meet you soon.

What you've done is ensure that every daughter of Southern Baptists who steps foot on seminary property to earn a post-graduate degree will be protected as they should be by those entrusted to lead our Convention.