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

The Southern Baptist Conference on Thursday released a once-secret and lengthy checklist of accused sex abusers — several of whom are in the Midwest — inside the denomination.

The 205-page record is a compilation of ministers and other church employees who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. The list is described as a “fluid, working doc” that was additionally incomplete however largely pulls information about abusers from revealed information experiences.

The publication of the checklist comes after the discharge Sunday of a 300-page report by an independent investigator that described how leaders of the Southern Baptist denomination for decades have acquired reviews of sexual abuse dedicated by church staff, pastors and others. However those reviews had been largely stored secret and, quite than appearing upon and investigating experiences of sexual abuse, denomination leaders sought to intimidate and vilify victims and their advocates.

“The entire thing must be seen for what it's,” wrote former Southern Baptist Convention government committee member and basic counsel D. August Boto in an inner e mail that was published in the report. “It’s a satanic scheme to utterly distract us from evangelism.”

The disaster rocking the Southern Baptist denomination this week is similar in some ways to what the Catholic church continues to face. Leaders in both faiths systematically hid details about sexual misconduct, appeared to show more concern about their very own authorized liability than the victims and at instances failed to expel accused abusers from positions of authority.

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

Doyle was informed, “Southern Baptist leaders actually haven't any authority over native churches,” a response that Doyle thought to be dismissive, according to the investigative report. 

That same year, on the SBC conference 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 “help in stopping any future sexual abuse or harassment.”

The database proposal appeared to go nowhere, according to the report, and witnesses on the conference recalled little about it except to precise their opinion that it might “violate local church autonomy.”

Ultimately, a staffer for the SBC executive committee since 2007 had maintained an inventory of accused ministers and church workers, but it surely was kept hidden from the public and even SBC executive committee trustees, in accordance with the report.

Southern Baptist leaders mentioned publicizing the list of credibly accused abusers represented “an initial, but essential, step towards addressing the scourge of sexual abuse and implementing reform within the Conference.”

“Each entry on this list reminds us of the devastation and destruction caused by sexual abuse,” stated a joint assertion from Willie McLaurin and Rolland Slade, both SBC government committee members. “Our prayer is that the survivors of those heinous acts find hope and healing, and that churches will make the most of this checklist proactively to guard and care for the most weak among us.”

Attorneys for the SBC government committee researched the checklist of accused abusers, taking steps to verify data it contained. It left unredacted entries about alleged abusers that could possibly be confirmed, whereas redacting entries where someone was acquitted or did not have a last disposition, in addition to info that could determine victims.

Missouri men feature prominently on the list. They embrace:

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 more in-depth news from Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, we invite you to comply with us on Twitter.