Southern Baptists face push for public checklist of sex abusers

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

The creation of an “Offender Data System” was one of many key suggestions in a report released Sunday by Guidepost Options, an unbiased agency contracted by the SBC’s Government Committee after delegates to last yr’s national meeting pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is predicted to be certainly one of a number of recommendations offered to thousands of delegates attending this yr’s national assembly, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

“Those suggestions can be open to questions, debate and comments on the assembly floor,” mentioned SBC President Ed Litton.

He expressed hope that the surprising findings in the Guidepost report will deliver “lasting change” to the SBC, America’s largest Protestant denomination. It has been shedding membership steadily lately, 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 Government Committee, “only to be met, time and time again, with resistance, stonewalling, and even outright hostility from some throughout the EC.”

“Our investigation revealed that, for many years, a couple of senior EC leaders, along with exterior counsel, largely controlled the EC’s response to these experiences of abuse ... and were singularly focused on avoiding liability,” the report said.

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

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

“We’re at a fork within the highway,” Gaines said. “I believe this report supplied the information that we needed for there to be a groundswell of assist to take the right actions.”

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

“I believe that’s one of the first things 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 known abusers. She was heartened that Guidepost was recommending such a system, however mentioned questions stay about its implementation.

“What is completely important is that the native church cannot perform as the default or presumed beginning place for a survivor to attempt to receive an investigation of clergy sex abuse,” she stated by way of email. “If the local church is deemed to be a requisite first cease for survivors to pursue motion, 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 Government Committee kept a secret record of tons of of SBC-affiliated clergy and different personnel identified as sex abusers. Brown stated the committee, at a particular assembly Tuesday, should agree to release this record.

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

The final selections about suggestions to undergo the Anaheim delegates might be made by the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Activity Force, comprising seven members and two advisors. Its work over the previous yr has been an emotional journey, stated Pastor Bruce Frank, who led the group.

“We saw patterns and things that have been deeply regarding,” he stated. “Our foremost job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, and they have executed a really remarkable job within the final 9 months to take a look at occasions that occurred over 20 years.”

In the next week or so, the duty pressure will carry forth formal motions in “precise language,” which might be made public and offered to the delegates in Anaheim for a vote, stated Frank, lead pastor of Biltmore Baptist Church in Arden, North Carolina.

Frank mentioned the crux of the duty drive’s suggestions based on Guidepost’s report might be summarized in two words – prevention and care.

“Our primary goal needs to be preventing sexual abuse,” he mentioned. “And if abuse does happen, how will we care for survivors in a significantly better pastoral way? How can we better 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 one who is fair-minded will look at what’s in that report and demand that issues be higher,” Frank said. “SBC is a giant household with 48,000 churches. There may be some disagreement on the way to make issues higher. However I’m confident that we’ll work by way of the difficulties.”

In addition to intercourse abuse, the agenda for the meeting 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 at the mean-spirited behaviors attributed to some SBC officers within the Guidepost report.

If elected, Barber stated 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 executed,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, but I believe everyone in the survivor group that I’ve heard from has said experiences are one thing, however we’ll see if this household of church buildings has the braveness and resolve to take motion.”

The sex abuse scandal was thrust into the highlight in 2019 by a landmark report from the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Categorical-Information documenting a whole lot of cases in Southern Baptist churches, including a number of by which alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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