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Greear made the comments after the Chronicle asked him to respond to recent criticism of two SBC churches' decisions to host Patterson, a former SBC president who was instrumental in pushing the nation's second-largest faith group to adopt literal interpretations of the Bible.
Earlier this month, Patterson was honored as a "defender of the faith" by Victory Baptist Church in Rowlett, Texas. He is also scheduled to appear next month at an event at Fellowship Church in Immokalee, Fla. Two state SBC leaders who were scheduled to speak have since withdrawn.
Sexual abuse survivors and activists were critical of the churches' willingness to host Patterson.
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Greear said on Friday that "local church autonomy" does not excuse Southern Baptists from holding one another accountable.
"Southern Baptist churches must take our mutual accountability to each other more seriously than we have in the past," he said. "If our system of governance means anything, it means exercising due diligence and heeding what those whom we put in positions of trustee oversight have reported about official misconduct."
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In June, a former seminary student filed a lawsuit in which she accused Patterson of shaming, threatening and humiliating her after she told him she'd been repeatedly raped at gunpoint by another seminary student.
The Chronicle also published videos and letters that show that Patterson and another former SBC president, Jerry Vines, had sought to conceal sexual misconduct allegations faced by their former protege, Darrell Gilyard.
Then, in November, Patterson was accused of racism stemming from a letter he wrote in 2012, after the SBC elected its first African American president.
In it, Patterson questioned the theological knowledge "among many of the ethic groups" and worried the SBC could "slide a long way back" under its first black leader.