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 raising the prospect that the denomination, for the primary time, will create a publicly accessible database of pastors and different church personnel identified 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 impartial firm contracted by the SBC’s Govt Committee after delegates to final 12 months’s nationwide assembly pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is anticipated to be considered one of several recommendations introduced to thousands of delegates attending this year’s national assembly, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

“These recommendations might be open to questions, debate and feedback on the assembly flooring,” said SBC President Ed Litton.

He expressed hope that the shocking findings in the Guidepost report will carry “lasting change” to the SBC, America’s largest Protestant denomination. It has been shedding membership steadily in recent times, while being wracked by internal 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 once more, with resistance, stonewalling, and even outright hostility from some inside the EC.”

“Our investigation revealed that, for a few years, just a few senior EC leaders, together with outdoors counsel, largely controlled the EC’s response to those stories of abuse ... and had been singularly targeted on avoiding liability,” the report said.

The movement for an independent investigation was put ahead eventually year’s nationwide meeting by the Rev. Grant Gaines, senior pastor of Belle Aire Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

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

“We’re at a fork within the highway,” Gaines mentioned. “I feel this report supplied the knowledge that we wanted for there to be a groundswell of assist to take the best actions.”

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

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

Lawyer and author Christa Brown, who says she was sexually abused as a teen by the youth minister at her SBC church, has been pressing the SBC since 2006 to create a publicly accessible database of known abusers. She was heartened that Guidepost was recommending such a system, however stated questions remain about its implementation.

“What is absolutely critical is that the local church can not operate as the default or presumed beginning place for a survivor to try to acquire an investigation of clergy sex abuse,” she stated through e mail. “If the local church is deemed to be a requisite first cease for survivors to pursue motion, then many survivors’ voices shall be choked in their throats before sound is ever uttered.”

Among the many Guidepost report’s findings was that the Government Committee kept a secret record of tons of of SBC-affiliated clergy and other personnel identified as intercourse abusers. Brown said the committee, at a special assembly Tuesday, ought to conform to release this list.

“I urge you to make public everything of your list of pastors & ministers accused of sexual abuse, in no matter form it’s been stored for lo these many years,” Brown tweeted. “Put up. It. Now.”

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

“We saw patterns and issues that have been deeply concerning,” he mentioned. “Our important job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, and so they have executed a truly remarkable job within the last 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 “exact language,” which might be made public and offered to the delegates in Anaheim for a vote, mentioned Frank, lead pastor of Biltmore Baptist Church in Arden, North Carolina.

Frank mentioned the crux of the task force’s recommendations primarily based on Guidepost’s report might be summarized in two phrases – prevention and care.

“Our predominant goal ought to be stopping sexual abuse,” he stated. “And if abuse does occur, how do we look after survivors in a significantly better pastoral manner? How can we better 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 that is fair-minded will look at what’s in that report and demand that things be higher,” Frank stated. “SBC is a giant family with 48,000 church buildings. There could be some disagreement on the way to make things higher. But I’m assured that we’ll work via the difficulties.”

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

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

If elected, Barber said in a broadcast interview Monday, “I’m praying that God will give me the knowledge to know what to do.... We’re sailing into uncharted waters.”

“The work’s not performed,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, however I feel all people in the survivor group that I’ve heard from has said reports are one factor, but we’ll see if this household of church buildings has the braveness and resolve to take motion.”

The intercourse abuse scandal was thrust into the highlight in 2019 by a landmark report from the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News documenting lots of of instances in Southern Baptist church buildings, including a number of by which alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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