Southern Baptists face push for public list of sex abusers

A blistering report on the Southern Baptist Convention’s mishandling of sex abuse allegations is elevating the prospect that the denomination, for the first time, will create a publicly accessible database of pastors and different church personnel known to be abusers.

The creation of an “Offender Information System” was one of many key suggestions in a report released Sunday by Guidepost Options, an independent agency contracted by the SBC’s Executive Committee after delegates to last 12 months’s national assembly pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is predicted to be one of several suggestions offered to hundreds of delegates attending this yr’s national meeting, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

“Those recommendations will be open to questions, debate and comments on the assembly ground,” said SBC President Ed Litton.

He expressed hope that the surprising findings in the Guidepost report will carry “lasting change” to the SBC, America’s largest Protestant denomination. It has been shedding membership steadily lately, while being wracked by internal divisions over race and gender roles.

The Guidepost report mentioned survivors of abuse by SBC clergy repeatedly shared allegations with the Government Committee, “solely to be met, time and time once more, with resistance, stonewalling, and even outright hostility from some within the EC.”

“Our investigation revealed that, for many years, a few senior EC leaders, together with outside counsel, largely controlled the EC’s response to these studies of abuse ... and had been singularly targeted on avoiding liability,” the report said.

The movement for an impartial investigation was put ahead ultimately 12 months’s national meeting by the Rev. Grant Gaines, senior pastor of Belle Aire Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Studying the Guidepost report, Gaines stated he was struck by repeated examples of a callous disregard for survivors, in addition to leaders prioritizing protection of the SBC from liability over abuse prevention.

“We’re at a fork within the street,” Gaines stated. “I believe this report offered the knowledge that we needed for there to be a groundswell of support to take the proper actions.”

Specifically, Gaines stated he helps the proposal to create a system that alerts communities to recognized offenders.

“I believe that’s one of many first things we should always do,” he mentioned.

Lawyer and author Christa Brown, who says she was sexually abused as a teen by the youth minister at her SBC church, has been pressing the SBC since 2006 to create a publicly accessible database of identified abusers. She was heartened that Guidepost was recommending such a system, however said questions stay about its implementation.

“What is absolutely important is that the local church can not perform because the default or presumed starting place for a survivor to attempt to acquire an investigation of clergy sex abuse,” she said by way of e mail. “If the local church is deemed to be a requisite first stop for survivors to pursue action, then many survivors’ voices can be choked in their throats earlier than sound is ever uttered.”

Among the many Guidepost report’s findings was that the Government Committee kept a secret record of hundreds of SBC-affiliated clergy and other personnel recognized as sex abusers. Brown stated the committee, at a special assembly Tuesday, should conform to release this list.

“I urge you to make public the entirety of your listing of pastors & ministers accused of sexual abuse, in no matter form it’s been kept for lo these many years,” Brown tweeted. “Put up. It. Now.”

The ultimate choices about recommendations to submit to the Anaheim delegates might be made by the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Job Force, comprising seven members and two advisors. Its work over the previous 12 months has been an emotional journey, stated Pastor Bruce Frank, who led the group.

“We noticed patterns and issues that have been deeply regarding,” he said. “Our main job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, and they have executed a very remarkable job within the last nine months to have a look at events that occurred over 20 years.”

Within the subsequent week or so, the task force will carry forth formal motions in “precise language,” which might be made public and presented to the delegates in Anaheim for a vote, said Frank, lead pastor of Biltmore Baptist Church in Arden, North Carolina.

Frank stated the crux of the duty force’s suggestions based mostly on Guidepost’s report could be summarized in two words – prevention and care.

“Our important purpose should be stopping sexual abuse,” he stated. “And if abuse does happen, how can we take care of survivors in a significantly better pastoral manner? How can we better communicate to verify (abusers) don’t go from one church to another?”

His hope is that this report serves as “a catalyst for change.”

“Any person who is fair-minded will take a look at what’s in that report and demand that things be better,” Frank said. “SBC is a giant family with 48,000 church buildings. There might be some disagreement on tips on how to make issues higher. However I’m confident that we’ll work via the difficulties.”

Along with intercourse abuse, the agenda for the meeting in Anaheim includes election of a new SBC president to succeed Litton.

One of many leading contenders is Bart Barber, a pastor from Farmersville, Texas, who expressed dismay on the mean-spirited behaviors attributed to some SBC officers within the Guidepost report.

If elected, Barber said in a broadcast interview Monday, “I’m praying that God will give me the knowledge to know what to do.... We’re crusing into uncharted waters.”

“The work’s not done,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, however I feel everybody within the survivor group that I’ve heard from has stated reports are one factor, however we’ll see if this household of churches has the braveness and resolve to take motion.”

The intercourse abuse scandal was thrust into the highlight in 2019 by a landmark report from the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Categorical-News documenting a whole bunch of circumstances in Southern Baptist churches, together with several during which alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

___

Related Press faith protection receives help by the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely answerable for this content material.