Eight Missouri ministers accused of sex abuse in Southern Baptist Convention report • Missouri Independent

The Southern Baptist Conference on Thursday launched a once-secret and prolonged record of accused sex abusers — several of whom are in the Midwest — throughout the denomination.

The 205-page listing is a compilation of ministers and different church workers who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. The listing is described as a “fluid, working document” that was additionally incomplete however largely pulls details about abusers from revealed news experiences.

The publication of the record comes after the release Sunday of a 300-page report by an unbiased investigator that described how leaders of the Southern Baptist denomination for many years have received studies of sexual abuse dedicated by church employees, pastors and others. However these reviews had been largely kept secret and, moderately than appearing upon and investigating stories of sexual abuse, denomination leaders sought to intimidate and vilify victims and their advocates.

“The whole thing ought to be seen for what it is,” wrote former Southern Baptist Convention executive committee member and normal counsel D. August Boto in an internal electronic mail that was printed in the report. “It’s a satanic scheme to fully distract us from evangelism.”

The disaster rocking the Southern Baptist denomination this week is similar in many ways to what the Catholic church continues to face. Leaders in both faiths systematically hid details about sexual misconduct, appeared to indicate extra concern about their own legal liability than the victims and at times did not expel accused abusers from positions of authority.

In 2007, Father Thomas Doyle, a Catholic priest credited as one of the first to warn of his personal denomination’s clergy sex abuse disaster, wrote a letter to SBC leadership conveying his concern that Southern Baptist leaders have been repeating the failures of the Catholic church in dealing with sex abuse.

Doyle was informed, “Southern Baptist leaders really don't have any authority over local church buildings,” a response that Doyle considered dismissive, based on the investigative report. 

That very same 12 months, on the SBC convention in San Antonio, Oklahoma pastor Wade Burleson made a movement to create a database of Southern Baptist clergy who had been convicted or credibly accused of, or had confessed to sexual abuse. The proposal was meant to “assist in preventing any future sexual abuse or harassment.”

The database proposal appeared to go nowhere, in keeping with the report, and witnesses at the convention recalled little about it except to express their opinion that it might “violate local church autonomy.”

In the end, a staffer for the SBC govt committee since 2007 had maintained an inventory of accused ministers and church staff, but it surely was kept hidden from the general public and even SBC executive committee trustees, in response to the report.

Southern Baptist leaders stated publicizing the list of credibly accused abusers represented “an preliminary, but important, step in direction of addressing the scourge of sexual abuse and implementing reform in the Conference.”

“Every entry on this list reminds us of the devastation and destruction caused by sexual abuse,” stated a joint statement from Willie McLaurin and Rolland Slade, each SBC executive committee members. “Our prayer is that the survivors of those heinous acts discover hope and healing, and that church buildings will utilize this checklist proactively to protect and take care of essentially the most susceptible among us.”

Attorneys for the SBC government committee researched the listing of accused abusers, taking steps to confirm information it contained. It left unredacted entries about alleged abusers that could be confirmed, while redacting entries where someone was acquitted or didn't have a closing disposition, as well as information that could determine victims.

Missouri males feature prominently on the checklist. They embody:

This story comes from the Midwest Newsroom, an investigative journalism collaboration including IPR, KCUR 89.3, Nebraska Public Media Information, St. Louis Public Radio and NPR. For extra in-depth news from Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, we invite you to follow us on Twitter.