Petition launched for Robert Lopez. Also, online fundraiser launched after seminary cuts off pay before Christmas in retaliation for Lopez’s conservative views.
Dr. Robert Lopez was fired by Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) the day after Thanksgiving. They promised him pay through the end of December, but after he revealed the seminary made demonstrably false statements, they cut his pay off about December 4. Merry Christmas to Lopez and his family from the Christ-like leadership of our Southern Baptist seminary!
Lopez is a pro-Trump, conservative professor often targeted by the Left for his promotion of traditional marriage. Now, he’s experiencing persecution by a Southern Baptist seminary.
The petition is available here. It begins:
“We the undersigned wish to protest against the unjust and unethical treatment of Professor Robert Oscar Lopez who was abruptly removed from his teaching job at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Texas USA without cause.
“We demand his re-instatement, with a public apology. The pretexts given for his sudden dismissal were not genuine and can be shown to be false. The treatment handed out to Professor Lopez is inconsistent with the Christian principles SWBTS is supposed to uphold, and also inconsistent with academic and intellectual freedom.”
Boom.
That’s true. The falsehood promoted by Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary required a strong rebuke.
Southwestern published a false statement responding to Dr. Lopez. Lopez responded by releasing tapes that verified his story including the bombshell revelation that the rabid Never Trumper Russell Moore’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) was involved in discussions about Lopez prior to his dismissal.
According to a recording of the event SWBTS Provost Randy Stinson appears to say,
“Then, I happen to be around some folks from the ERLC, where your reputation is not good there with those folks. So now there’s a growing concern of mine in terms of a failure to relate constructively to another major entity of the SBC. Which in turn compounds the problem of failure to relate constructively to this institution.”
Stunning. So much for the SBC’s 11th Commandment!
And of course, following the tapes, a witness came forward who was in the meeting between Stinson and Lopez. The witness verified Lopez’s account of the meeting.
So, to summarize: SWBTS releases statement. Lopez releases tapes proving SWBTS’ statement was false. Witness verifies Lopez’s story.
Even shorter: In other words, SWBTS lied.
The petition was launched by Monica Shelley. Shelley isn’t a Southern Baptist. Shelley isn’t even an American. She first got to know Dr. Lopez about 9 years ago, when the US and Britain were facing Leftists moves to legalize same-sex marriage.
“I was supporting a group called Campaign for Marriage which defended traditional man-woman marriage on a wide range of grounds, starting with the need for a biological definition of family that recognize the right of a child to have both parents wherever possible,” Shelley said. “We linked up with the European La Manif Pour Tous. I heard about people in the USA such as Dr. Lopez who were submitting Amicus briefs saying that their own experience confirmed this. He has as you know set up an ‘English Manif’ website. I read some of his books, and became friends with him on Facebook. When he visited England I met him. I was then horrified to learn of the way he was being persecuted at University of California at Northridge.”
What’s shocking is how similar SWBTS and the secular Cal Northridge were in their treatments of Dr. Lopez. He was persecuted by both.
Shelley said there is an intolerance in modern academia.
“My background is in academia,” Shelley said. “Over the past 20 years there has been a decline into intolerance and extremism. Only certain views are tolerated. The LGBTs presume to police other people and get them banned, sacked and disgraced if they will not conform…Professor Lopez is an example of an excellent academic who has been victimized.”
And since Dr. Lopez’s pay was quickly terminated when he told the truth about SWBTS, there is now an online fundraiser to support him. We encourage you to consider helping Dr. Lopez. SWBTS fired him, told false stories about him and cutoff his pay before Christmas. This could make it very difficult for him to find a new job.
Consider helping out someone standing in the gap and fighting for traditional conservative values.
Also, if you are Southern Baptist consider letting your pastor and your SBC leaders know you are outraged at what is happening at SWBTS.