Southern Baptists face push for public listing of intercourse abusers

A blistering report on the Southern Baptist Convention’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 recommendations in a report released Sunday by Guidepost Solutions, an impartial firm contracted by the SBC’s Govt Committee after delegates to last year’s nationwide assembly pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is expected to be one in all a number of suggestions offered to hundreds 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 feedback on the meeting flooring,” stated SBC President Ed Litton.

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

The Guidepost report stated survivors of abuse by SBC clergy repeatedly shared allegations with the Govt 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 a few years, a few senior EC leaders, along with outside counsel, largely managed the EC’s response to those stories of abuse ... and had been singularly targeted on avoiding legal responsibility,” the report said.

The motion for an unbiased investigation was put ahead at last yr’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 liability over abuse prevention.

“We’re at a fork in the highway,” Gaines stated. “I feel this report provided the knowledge that we needed for there to be a groundswell of support to take the correct actions.”

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

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

Lawyer and writer 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 identified abusers. She was heartened that Guidepost was recommending such a system, however mentioned questions stay about its implementation.

“What is absolutely vital is that the native church can't operate because the default or presumed beginning place for a survivor to attempt to acquire an investigation of clergy sex abuse,” she said through e mail. “If the local church is deemed to be a requisite first cease for survivors to pursue action, then many survivors’ voices will be choked in their throats earlier than sound is ever uttered.”

Among the Guidepost report’s findings was that the Govt Committee kept a secret listing of tons of of SBC-affiliated clergy and other personnel recognized as intercourse abusers. Brown mentioned the committee, at a special meeting Tuesday, should agree to launch this list.

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

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

“We noticed patterns and issues that have been deeply regarding,” he said. “Our main job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, they usually have executed a truly outstanding job in the last nine months to look at occasions that occurred over 20 years.”

In the subsequent week or so, the task force will deliver forth formal motions in “precise language,” which will likely be made public and presented 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 based on Guidepost’s report could be summarized in two phrases – prevention and care.

“Our foremost aim should be preventing sexual abuse,” he said. “And if abuse does occur, how will we care for survivors in a a lot better pastoral method? How can we better talk to make sure (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 better,” Frank mentioned. “SBC is an enormous household with 48,000 churches. There is likely to be some disagreement on find out how to make things better. However I’m confident that we’ll work through the difficulties.”

In addition to sex abuse, the agenda for the assembly in Anaheim consists of election of a brand new SBC president to succeed Litton.

One of many 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 sailing into uncharted waters.”

“The work’s not performed,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, however I feel everybody in the survivor community that I’ve heard from has said reviews are one thing, however we’ll see if this family of churches has the braveness and resolve to take motion.”

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

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