Leaders warn foundational principles of Baptist polity and religious liberty are at stake if the Fifth Circuit ruling in McRaney v. North American Mission Board stands
Published February 17, 2026
A growing chorus of Baptist leaders, attorneys, and pastors is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in McRaney v. North American Mission Board (NAMB), arguing that a recent Fifth Circuit ruling threatens not only one pastor’s legal claims but the foundational principles of Baptist polity and religious liberty.In September, the Fifth Circuit held that NAMB could invoke the “ministerial exception” in a dispute involving former state convention executive director Will McRaney—even though NAMB never employed him, supervised him, or exercised ecclesiastical authority over him. Critics say the ruling stretches a narrow First Amendment protection far beyond its intended purpose.
Baptist commentator David Morrill warned that the decision transforms the ministerial exception into “a sweeping shield from ordinary law,” insulating religious organizations from accountability for basic torts such as defamation or intentional interference.
“Church autonomy and ministerial exception doctrines were meant to prevent courts from deciding questions of doctrine or church governance,” Morrill wrote, “not to immunize religious institutions from ordinary wrongs.”Morrill and others argue that the ruling is especially dangerous for Baptists, whose polity is deliberately non‑hierarchical. With no bishops, denominational courts, or centralized authority, Baptists have historically relied on secular courts to resolve civil disputes. The Fifth Circuit’s logic, they warn, could leave Baptists “uniquely vulnerable and cut off from both ecclesiastical and civil remedies.”