Southern Baptists face push for public listing of sex abusers

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

The creation of an “Offender Information System” was one of the key recommendations in a report launched Sunday by Guidepost Solutions, an unbiased 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 expected to be one among several suggestions offered to thousands of delegates attending this yr’s national meeting, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

“Those suggestions shall be open to questions, debate and feedback on the assembly flooring,” said SBC President Ed Litton.

He expressed hope that the stunning findings in the Guidepost report will bring “lasting change” to the SBC, America’s largest Protestant denomination. It has been losing membership steadily in recent years, 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 throughout the EC.”

“Our investigation revealed that, for a few years, a number of senior EC leaders, together with outside counsel, largely controlled the EC’s response to those reports of abuse ... and had been singularly focused on avoiding legal responsibility,” the report stated.

The motion for an impartial investigation was put ahead eventually yr’s national assembly by the Rev. Grant Gaines, senior pastor of Belle Aire Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Studying the Guidepost report, Gaines mentioned he was struck by repeated examples of a callous disregard for survivors, as well as leaders prioritizing safety of the SBC from legal responsibility over abuse prevention.

“We’re at a fork in the road,” Gaines mentioned. “I think this report provided the knowledge that we would have liked for there to be a groundswell of assist to take the appropriate actions.”

Particularly, Gaines said he supports the proposal to create a system that alerts communities to recognized offenders.

“I think that’s one of many first issues we should 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 urgent the SBC since 2006 to create a publicly accessible database of identified abusers. She was heartened that Guidepost was recommending such a system, but mentioned questions remain about its implementation.

“What is completely vital is that the native church can't operate as the default or presumed beginning place for a survivor to try to acquire an investigation of clergy intercourse abuse,” she mentioned through e-mail. “If the local church is deemed to be a requisite first cease for survivors to pursue action, then many survivors’ voices will be choked in their throats earlier than sound is ever uttered.”

Among the many Guidepost report’s findings was that the Executive Committee kept a secret listing of tons of of SBC-affiliated clergy and other personnel recognized as sex abusers. Brown said the committee, at a particular assembly Tuesday, should comply with launch this listing.

“I urge you to make public the whole lot of your record of pastors & ministers accused of sexual abuse, in no matter form it’s been stored for lo these a few years,” Brown tweeted. “Publish. It. Now.”

The ultimate selections about recommendations to undergo the Anaheim delegates can be made by the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Task Pressure, comprising seven members and two advisors. Its work over the previous 12 months has been an emotional journey, mentioned Pastor Bruce Frank, who led the group.

“We noticed patterns and things that had been deeply regarding,” he stated. “Our major job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, and they have carried out a truly outstanding job in the final nine months to take a look at events that occurred over 20 years.”

In the subsequent week or so, the task pressure will deliver forth formal motions in “exact language,” which will be made public and offered to the delegates in Anaheim for a vote, said Frank, lead pastor of Biltmore Baptist Church in Arden, North Carolina.

Frank mentioned the crux of the duty pressure’s suggestions based on Guidepost’s report will be summarized in two phrases – prevention and care.

“Our fundamental objective ought to be preventing sexual abuse,” he said. “And if abuse does occur, how will we care for survivors in a a lot better pastoral way? How can we higher talk 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 issues be higher,” Frank said. “SBC is a giant family with 48,000 church buildings. There is perhaps some disagreement on how to make issues higher. However I’m confident that we’ll work by way of the difficulties.”

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

One of the 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 wisdom to know what to do.... We’re crusing into uncharted waters.”

“The work’s not completed,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, but I feel all people within the survivor community that I’ve heard from has said reports are one thing, but we’ll see if this family of church buildings has the courage and resolve to take action.”

The intercourse abuse scandal was thrust into the spotlight in 2019 by a landmark report from the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-Information documenting a whole bunch of circumstances in Southern Baptist churches, including a number of wherein alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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