The Dissenter has written several articles covering the latest scandal in the Southern Baptist Convention involving a number of Southern Baptist establishment members conspiring to blackmail conservative Texas pastor, Tom Buck, because of his outspoken opposition to the liberal drift in the denomination.
Following Tom Buck’s initiation of contact with former SBC presidential candidate, Willy Rice, regarding questions about the eligibility of one of Rice’s deacons, Buck says he received a threatening phone call from a well-known SBC pastor who made him aware that a rough draft of an article that Buck had written with his wife about God’s restoration of their marriage had been passed around.
According to Protestia, “What Tom was told in no uncertain terms is that if he did not effectively drop out of Southern Baptist Life, stop tweeting, and stop opposing the liberal takeover of the convention, a story would be released that he beat his wife.”
Tom received a phone call on March 31 asking him if he was “trying to destroy Willy Rice,” who had accepted a nomination for president of the SBC. On April 1, just hours after Willy Rice made a public announcement about removing a deacon in his church after he was contacted by “a pastor in another state,” Tom received a phone call asking him if Jennifer had written a blog post about him having abused her. He was told that what Jennifer had written had been sent to several news outlets. It became apparent that Jennifer’s 2018 rough draft had been leaked. What follows is a brief account as to the apparent reason for these phone calls.
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A few days later, the story that included details of the rough draft appeared in the Baptist News Global. The Bucks are adamant that the only person they shared the article with was Karen Swallow Prior, a professor at Southeastern Seminary who has been exposed as a liberal activist. According to the Buck’s statement:
Tom and Jennifer contacted Karen, who said that she had refused to verify the rough draft and that she didn’t think it was right to publish. Jennifer pleaded with Karen to tell them who came to her, citing how wicked it was to twist a wife’s words to weaponize them against her husband. Karen refused to give the name of the one who came to her. In the end, she laid the blame at Jennifer’s feet by saying, “They were your words, Jennifer. And my mom said you should never put in writing what you don’t want the whole world to read.”
After victim-shaming Jennifer Buck, Karen Swallow Prior has still refused to acknowledge her part in the spread of this rough draft even accepting the accolades of another liberal activist, Dave Miller, who sang Karen’s praises refusing to believe she could do any wrong.
Except now, in an email that was obtained exclusively with Capstone Report and shared with The Dissenter, SEBTS has confirmed that Karen Swallow Prior was the source behind the leak who shared the rough draft with potential publishers.
“Unfortunately you are misinformed and what is being portrayed in Social Media is incorrect,” the email signed by Danny Akin with official SEBTS email accounts listed on it read. “Karen Prior has never shared the Bucks story with anyone trying to disparage them. At their request she only shared it with persons for possible publication. For my part I have been clear that it would be sinful and wrong to disseminate anything without the author’s permission.”
Despite this admission by SEBTS that Karen Swallow Prior actually did share the rough draft—and the Bucks’ claim that they never gave her permission to share it—the only right thing to do at this point would be for SEBTS and Karen Swallow Prior to come clean and tell them who they shared the article with.