Best Supporting Actress · Episode 7 of 10 · 22 min
Eighty-One Percent — Banned Her, Shielded Him
White evangelical voters backed Donald Trump at 81 percent in 2016, and a reckoning on abuse followed. The episode argues that churches moved faster against women pastors than against abusers, tracing #ChurchToo, Paige Patterson's firing, the Abuse of Faith reporting, the Guidepost report and Beth Moore's exit to a 74.66 percent first vote on the Truth and Unity Amendment in June 2026.
Who's who
- Emily Joy AllisonCo-founder of #ChurchToo
- Hannah PaaschCo-founder of #ChurchToo
- Rachael DenhollanderAttorney and first public accuser of Larry Nassar
- Paige Patterson+1 more episodeSouthwestern Seminary president fired in 2018
- Beth MooreBible teacher who left the Southern Baptist Convention in 2021
- Albert Mohler+1 more episodeSeminary president who proposed the Truth and Unity Amendment
- Kristin Kobes Du MezHistorian and author of Jesus and John Wayne
Where it happens
- Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, TexasTrustees removed and fired Patterson in 2018
- Nashville, Tennessee+3 more episodes2021 SBC meeting forced an independent investigation
- Orlando, Florida+1 more episode2026 first vote on the Truth and Unity Amendment
Timeline
- November 2016Exit polls show 81% of white evangelical voters backed Trump
- November 2017#ChurchToo launched
- May 2018Southwestern trustees remove, then fire, Paige Patterson
- February 2019Abuse of Faith reporting identifies about 380 credibly accused SBC leaders and volunteers
- May 2022Guidepost report reveals a secret list of 703 accused abusers
- June 2026Truth and Unity Amendment passes its first vote, 6,028 to 2,026
Still debated
The 81% figure measures self-identified white evangelical voters in exit polls, and Pew's validated-voter study put it nearer 77%. Defenders argue a confessional body policing its confession is consistent and that a congregationalist polity limits abuse oversight, while critics say church autonomy was invoked selectively.