Southern Baptists face push for public listing 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 first time, will create a publicly accessible database of pastors and different church personnel known to be abusers.

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

The proposed database is expected to be one among several suggestions offered to thousands of delegates attending this yr’s national assembly, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

“These suggestions shall be open to questions, debate and comments on the meeting floor,” stated SBC President Ed Litton.

He expressed hope that the surprising findings within the Guidepost report will deliver “lasting change” to the SBC, America’s largest Protestant denomination. It has been shedding membership steadily in recent years, while 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 Govt Committee, “solely 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 number of senior EC leaders, along with outdoors counsel, largely controlled the EC’s response to those studies of abuse ... and had been singularly centered on avoiding liability,” the report stated.

The movement for an unbiased investigation was put ahead ultimately yr’s national meeting by the Rev. Grant Gaines, senior pastor of Belle Aire Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Studying the Guidepost report, Gaines said 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 stated. “I believe this report offered the information that we would have liked for there to be a groundswell of help to take the appropriate actions.”

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

“I think that’s one of many first things we must always 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 recognized abusers. She was heartened that Guidepost was recommending such a system, however mentioned questions remain about its implementation.

“What is completely essential is that the native church can not perform because the default or presumed starting place for a survivor to try to acquire an investigation of clergy intercourse abuse,” she said through e-mail. “If the local church is deemed to be a requisite first stop for survivors to pursue action, then many survivors’ voices shall be choked of their throats earlier than sound is ever uttered.”

Among the many Guidepost report’s findings was that the Government Committee saved a secret list of a whole bunch of SBC-affiliated clergy and different personnel recognized as intercourse abusers. Brown mentioned the committee, at a particular assembly Tuesday, ought to agree to release this record.

“I urge you to make public the entirety of your list of pastors & ministers accused of sexual abuse, in no matter type it’s been kept for lo these a few years,” Brown tweeted. “Submit. It. Now.”

The ultimate selections about recommendations to undergo the Anaheim delegates might be made by the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Process 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 were deeply concerning,” he mentioned. “Our principal job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, they usually have completed a truly exceptional job within the final nine months to look at occasions that occurred over 20 years.”

Within the next week or so, the duty power will deliver forth formal motions in “precise language,” which will probably be made public and introduced 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 based mostly on Guidepost’s report might be summarized in two words – prevention and care.

“Our fundamental goal must be stopping sexual abuse,” he mentioned. “And if abuse does happen, how will we care for survivors in a significantly better pastoral approach? How can we better communicate to verify (abusers) don’t go from one church to another?”

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

“Any person who is fair-minded will take a look at what’s in that report and demand that things be better,” Frank mentioned. “SBC is an enormous family with 48,000 churches. There is perhaps some disagreement on make things higher. However I’m assured that we’ll work via 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 many leading contenders is Bart Barber, a pastor from Farmersville, Texas, who expressed dismay on the mean-spirited behaviors attributed to some SBC officials in the Guidepost report.

If elected, Barber stated in a broadcast interview Monday, “I’m praying that God will give me the knowledge 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 think everyone within the survivor group that I’ve heard from has said reviews are one thing, but we’ll see if this family of church buildings has the braveness and resolve to take action.”

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

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