Unhinged Baptist Pastor Tells Wives To Lose Weight - UPDATE

UPDATE: The day after this story went viral and I posted the O.P., the First General Baptist Church of Malden, Missouri deleted all of Clark’s sermons and most of the rest of their web site. Today, they issued a statement that Clark had “taken a leave of absence and is seeking professional counseling.” That’s pretty much the entire statement.

The fact that they scrubbed their website is sure proof that this was not the first occurrence of similar behavior. But no one at the church has apologized for anything. No one there has admitted Clark’s words were both harmful and untrue. No one there has explained why he was able to do this for years without church leaders or members taking action. (Unless they say otherwise, I’m assuming it’s because they all agreed with him.) No one there has said what they’re going to do to change course so that married women aren’t reduced to the role of trophy wives at best or wastes of space at worst.

As plenty of people have noted online, this kind of misogyny isn’t unusual in conservative “Bible-believing” churches. For many of them, it’s precisely why women have left Christianity for good — and they’re grateful they did.

This statement from the church doesn’t shut down the controversy. It only leads to more questions, which they’re clearly trying to avoid.