Southern Baptist Convention head says blind partisanship 'destroys everything,' criticizes Christian nationalism, Trump

Bart Barber, the newly elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention, is opposed to Christian nationalism, the leader of of America's largest evangelical institution told Anderson Cooper in an interview that aired Sunday on "60 Minutes." Barber was critical of the SBC's handling of a years-long sexual abuse scandal and Donald Trump, and said blind partisanship "destroys everything."

Bart Barber (60 Minutes)

About 60% of white evangelicals believe the 2020 presidential election was stolen, said Ryan Burge, a professor, pastor and data analyst on religion and politics. Barber, however, said he believes that President Joe Biden was legitimately elected. Prior to the 2016 election, Barber called Trump a "demonstrably evil man" and didn't vote for him. Barber did vote for Trump in the 2020 election, noting that he was encouraged by the former president's advocacy for sentencing reform and his consistent pro-life support. The pastor's opinion of Trump turned negative again after the president incited a mob to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. 

"I, and I think a lotta Southern Baptists, would be thrilled to have the opportunity to support someone for leadership in our country who's strong on the values that matter to us, who can do that without putting the vice president's life in danger," Barber said. 

Barber was elected president of the SBC in June, just a month after an investigation revealed that the convention's prior leadership had for decades "ignored hundreds of credible accusations of sexual abuse in Southern Baptist churches and seminaries, partly to avoid being held financially liable," Cooper reports. Barber said that sort of behavior is what he's trying to work against, adding that at times the SBC did more than just ignore sexual abuse victims but sometimes "impugned their motives. Sometimes we attacked them." Barber said he's cooperating with a Justice Department investigation and appointed a sexual abuse task force that's building a registry of credible abuse reports to help churches track predators. 

"I have strong feelings about this," Barber said. "I'm -- it's not just anger. Although I'm angry about it. God called me to be a pastor when I was 11. I believe in this. For people to sully this hurts me. I'm not doing this to try to accomplish some PR objective for us.  I'm doing this because I wanna serve God well."