Abasement: Fired from SWBTS, Facing Lawsuit
In May 2019, a year and a half after hosting Steven Vornea at the Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) Chapel service, Paige Patterson was fired from his position as President of SWBTS. Patterson reportedly “lied to the board of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) about a rape allegation that came before him at another seminary, withheld documents from his previous presidency, and referenced attempting to “break down” the victim of a more recent rape incident, according to a new statement released Friday by the chairman of the school’s board of trustees.” He was also under scrutiny for his inappropriate comments toward women, plus dangerous advice he was giving to victims suffering in abusive relationships.
A June 2019 lawsuit was filed by a former SWBTS student, Jane Roe, in federal court. It alleges Paige Patterson gravely mishandled her report of being raped at gunpoint on campus. Roe is the one who, upon trying to set up a meeting with Patterson, Patterson said in writing to a SWBTS staff member he may have to meet with her alone in case he has to “break her down.”
In August 2019, The Houston Chronicle, in their phenomenal work covering the Abuse of Faith series focusing on the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), continued with the publication of an article focusing on Paige Patterson, a leader of the famed SBC Conservative Resurgence, Jerry Vines, their enabling and cover-up of a sexual predator, Darryl Gilyard. The Chronicle article, together with old videos they discovered, paint a horrifying picture of how far Patterson and others were willing to go to ignore, mitigate, obfuscate, cover-up heinous sexual crimes committed by a man “whom Patterson then hailed as a ‘spokesman of God’ and ‘one of the most brilliant men who has ever stepped into the pulpit.'”