Southern Baptists face push for public list of sex abusers

A blistering report on the Southern Baptist Convention’s mishandling of intercourse 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 recognized to be abusers.

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

The proposed database is anticipated to be considered one of a number of recommendations presented to thousands of delegates attending this yr’s nationwide assembly, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

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

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

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

“Our investigation revealed that, for many years, just a few senior EC leaders, along with outdoors counsel, largely controlled the EC’s response to these experiences of abuse ... and had been singularly centered on avoiding legal responsibility,” the report stated.

The motion for an impartial investigation was put ahead eventually 12 months’s nationwide meeting 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, as well as leaders prioritizing safety of the SBC from liability over abuse prevention.

“We’re at a fork within the street,” Gaines mentioned. “I think this report offered the data that we would have liked for there to be a groundswell of help to take the right actions.”

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

“I feel that’s one of many first issues we must always do,” he said.

Lawyer and writer 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, but stated questions remain about its implementation.

“What is totally crucial is that the native church cannot perform because the default or presumed starting place for a survivor to try to obtain an investigation of clergy sex abuse,” she mentioned 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 will likely be choked in their throats earlier than sound is ever uttered.”

Among the Guidepost report’s findings was that the Government Committee stored a secret listing of tons of of SBC-affiliated clergy and other personnel recognized as intercourse abusers. Brown mentioned the committee, at a particular assembly Tuesday, ought to agree to release this checklist.

“I urge you to make public everything of your list of pastors & ministers accused of sexual abuse, in whatever kind it’s been stored for lo these a few years,” Brown tweeted. “Submit. It. Now.”

The final decisions about suggestions to submit to the Anaheim delegates might be made by the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Job Drive, 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 noticed patterns and things that were deeply regarding,” he stated. “Our predominant job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, and they have executed a very 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 duty drive will deliver forth formal motions in “precise language,” which will be made public and introduced 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 task pressure’s suggestions primarily based on Guidepost’s report could be summarized in two phrases – prevention and care.

“Our primary aim needs to be stopping sexual abuse,” he stated. “And if abuse does happen, how will we care for survivors in a significantly better pastoral approach? How can we higher talk to verify (abusers) don’t go from one church to a different?”

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

“Any one that is fair-minded will take a look at what’s in that report and demand that issues be better,” Frank said. “SBC is a giant family with 48,000 church buildings. There is likely to be some disagreement on find out how to make issues higher. But I’m assured that we’ll work by way of the difficulties.”

In addition to sex abuse, the agenda for the assembly in Anaheim contains election of a brand 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 officials 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 done,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, but I believe everybody in the survivor neighborhood that I’ve heard from has said reviews are one thing, but we’ll see if this family of churches has the braveness 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 Categorical-News documenting hundreds of circumstances in Southern Baptist churches, including several in which alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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