Dr. Alison Collis Greene, Associate Professor in the Candler School of Theology and Associated Faculty in the History Department, recently contributed to the NPR article, “America’s Top Evangelical Group Is Deciding If They’re Further Right Than Trump.” The piece centered on the June 2021 meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), at which members addressed the denomination’s official positions on a host of major and divisive issues. Read an excerpt quoting Greene below along with the full article: “America’s Top Evangelical Group Is Deciding If They’re Further Right Than Trump.”

“‘I think the denomination is at a crossroads, but Southern Baptists are often at crossroads,’ Alison Collis Greene, an associate professor of religious history at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, tells NPR. ‘None of these things happens overnight, and this one has been brewing for a while.’

“The spotlight was already on SBC leaders as they entered this week’s convention. Last week, recordings were leaked of internal meetings that critics have said shows the denomination’s top leaders were slow-walking reforms that would address sexual abuse.

“‘At this point, the SBC’s core values are deeply connected with Republican Party politics,’ Greene says. ‘I’d use the term “reactionary” rather than “conservative” to describe those, particularly with regard to race, gender, and authority.'”