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 recognized to be abusers.

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

The proposed database is anticipated to be one in every of a number of recommendations introduced to thousands of delegates attending this yr’s national meeting, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

“These suggestions will probably be open to questions, debate and feedback on the assembly ground,” stated 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 dropping membership steadily in recent years, whereas being wracked by inside divisions over race and gender roles.

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

“Our investigation revealed that, for many years, a number of senior EC leaders, along with exterior counsel, largely controlled the EC’s response to those stories of abuse ... and have been singularly targeted on avoiding legal responsibility,” the report stated.

The motion for an impartial investigation was put ahead at last year’s nationwide 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 liability over abuse prevention.

“We’re at a fork within the road,” Gaines stated. “I feel this report provided the information that we would have liked for there to be a groundswell of assist to take the correct actions.”

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

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

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 recognized abusers. She was heartened that Guidepost was recommending such a system, however mentioned questions stay about its implementation.

“What is completely vital is that the local church cannot function as the default or presumed beginning place for a survivor to attempt to acquire an investigation of clergy intercourse abuse,” she said via electronic mail. “If the native church is deemed to be a requisite first stop for survivors to pursue action, then many survivors’ voices will be choked of their throats earlier than sound is ever uttered.”

Among the Guidepost report’s findings was that the Govt Committee stored a secret listing of a whole bunch of SBC-affiliated clergy and different personnel recognized as intercourse abusers. Brown stated the committee, at a particular meeting Tuesday, ought to agree to release this record.

“I urge you to make public the entirety of your listing of pastors & ministers accused of sexual abuse, in whatever kind it’s been stored for lo these many years,” Brown tweeted. “Put up. It. Now.”

The ultimate selections about suggestions to submit to the Anaheim delegates might be made by the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Job 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 saw patterns and things that have been deeply concerning,” he mentioned. “Our essential job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, and they have done a really outstanding job within the final nine months to have a look at occasions that occurred over 20 years.”

Within the subsequent week or so, the duty power will deliver forth formal motions in “exact language,” which will be made public and introduced to the delegates in Anaheim for a vote, mentioned Frank, lead pastor of Biltmore Baptist Church in Arden, North Carolina.

Frank said the crux of the duty power’s suggestions based on Guidepost’s report will be summarized in two words – prevention and care.

“Our predominant objective must be preventing sexual abuse,” he stated. “And if abuse does happen, how do we care for survivors in a significantly better pastoral method? How can we higher talk to ensure (abusers) don’t go from one church to a different?”

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

“Any one who is fair-minded will take a look at what’s in that report and demand that things be higher,” Frank mentioned. “SBC is a giant household with 48,000 church buildings. There could be some disagreement on the best way to make things higher. However I’m confident that we’ll work via the difficulties.”

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

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

If elected, Barber mentioned 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 performed,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, however I think all people within the survivor group that I’ve heard from has said studies are one thing, however we’ll see if this family of churches has the braveness and resolve to take motion.”

The sex abuse scandal was thrust into the spotlight in 2019 by a landmark report from the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Specific-News documenting hundreds of cases in Southern Baptist church buildings, including several through which alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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