Baptist who led church's conservative movement dies
Associated Press
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Rev. Adrian Rogers, a three-time president of the Southern Baptist Convention and leader of a conservative takeover of the faith, died early today in Memphis. He was 74.
His death was announced on the Baptist Press News Web site and on Rogers' own Web site. Officials with the Nashville based Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee didn't immediately return calls seeking comment.
Rogers was hospitalized earlier this month with pneumonia and cancer, his Web site said.
Rogers was elected president in 1979 as part of the conservative takeover of the convention.
Rogers' election turned out to a be a watershed moment for the denomination, and the 16 million member group shifted dramatically to the right politically and theologically.
In the years that followed, conservative leaders pushed hard against abortion rights, homosexuality and women pastors.
Associated Press
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Rev. Adrian Rogers, a three-time president of the Southern Baptist Convention and leader of a conservative takeover of the faith, died early today in Memphis. He was 74.
His death was announced on the Baptist Press News Web site and on Rogers' own Web site. Officials with the Nashville based Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee didn't immediately return calls seeking comment.
Rogers was hospitalized earlier this month with pneumonia and cancer, his Web site said.
Rogers was elected president in 1979 as part of the conservative takeover of the convention.
Rogers' election turned out to a be a watershed moment for the denomination, and the 16 million member group shifted dramatically to the right politically and theologically.
In the years that followed, conservative leaders pushed hard against abortion rights, homosexuality and women pastors.
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