Evangelical Leftists Blame Biblical Inerrancy for Abuse in Southern Baptist Churches

Imagine thinking that God's inerrant Word is responsible for the moral decay in the church. I read an article by Holly Fletcher that praised the leftist pro-choice activist and Calvin University professor, Kristin Du Mez, for her latest attempt to dismantle biblical Christianity—this time in the form of a short film, For Our Daughters.

The film, which purports to highlight the stories of self-proclaimed abuse survivors in Southern Baptist churches, conveniently redirects its focus away from the actual problem of sinful human nature and squarely onto what Du Mez and her ilk perceive as the real culprit: biblical inerrancy.

Crazy, huh? According to these intellectual powerhouses, the belief that God’s Word is infallible is what’s causing all this abuse. In fairness to them, though, they don’t actually believe in sin—that is, of course, unless you’re a conservative who believes that God’s word is the highest authority…that’s a sin. Everything else is subjective.

You almost have to admire the insolence, don’t you? In a world filled with moral relativism and ever-evolving culture, they’ve somehow managed to come up with the genius conclusion that the one thing anchoring us to truth—the inerrancy of Scripture—is the problem in the Church. It’s like blaming the compass for the shipwreck.

Instead of holding sinful people accountable for their actions—those who actually committed them—Du Mez and Fletcher would have you believe that it’s the Bible’s fault for daring to be consistent, persistent, and yes, authoritative. How dare the Word of God not conform to today’s cultural standards?

Du Mez, whose claim to fame is her anti-evangelical screed Jesus and John Wayne, has made it her life’s mission to “expose” the so-called toxic masculinity and “patriarchy” of white evangelicalism. Her latest cinematic masterpiece follows the same worn-out script.

Of course, nobody in their right mind is arguing that abuse should be tolerated—sin must be dealt with swiftly and severely—but Du Mez is far less interested in actually helping victims than she is in tearing down the theological foundations of the church. She doesn’t want to reform the church—she wants to remake it in her own progressive image.

And this brings us to her primary target: inerrancy.

Fletcher argues that "inerrancy has helped consolidate power within—even in evangelicalism’s rather diffuse, flat institutional structure—by creating an authoritarian culture, in which people are not encouraged to think for themselves, debate is suppressed, there are unequivocal 'right answers,' certainty on all matters is both possible and mandatory, and—this is really, really key—correct DOCTRINE is prioritized over correct ETHIC."

Where do you even begin with this nonsensical word salad? Let’s unpack this applesauce one step at a time.