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

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

The 205-page list is a compilation of ministers and other church workers who've been credibly accused of sexual abuse. The checklist is described as a “fluid, working document” that was also incomplete but largely pulls information about abusers from published information reports.

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 acquired studies of sexual abuse dedicated by church workers, pastors and others. But those studies had been largely kept secret and, somewhat than performing upon and investigating experiences of sexual abuse, denomination leaders sought to intimidate and vilify victims and their advocates.

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

The crisis rocking the Southern Baptist denomination this week is comparable in some ways to what the Catholic church continues to face. Leaders in both faiths systematically hid information about sexual misconduct, appeared to show extra concern about their very own authorized legal responsibility 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 many first to warn of his own denomination’s clergy intercourse abuse crisis, wrote a letter to SBC management conveying his concern that Southern Baptist leaders had been repeating the failures of the Catholic church in coping with sex abuse.

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

That very same year, at the SBC conference in San Antonio, Oklahoma pastor Wade Burleson made a motion 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 stopping any future sexual abuse or harassment.”

The database proposal appeared to go nowhere, in line with the report, and witnesses at the convention recalled little about it except to specific their opinion that it could “violate native church autonomy.”

In the end, a staffer for the SBC executive committee since 2007 had maintained a list of accused ministers and church staff, nevertheless it was stored hidden from the general public and even SBC executive committee trustees, in response to the report.

Southern Baptist leaders said publicizing the listing of credibly accused abusers represented “an preliminary, however important, step towards addressing the scourge of sexual abuse and implementing reform in the Convention.”

“Each entry in this checklist reminds us of the devastation and destruction brought about by sexual abuse,” stated a joint statement from Willie McLaurin and Rolland Slade, each SBC govt committee members. “Our prayer is that the survivors of these heinous acts discover hope and healing, and that churches will utilize this listing proactively to guard and look after the most weak amongst us.”

Lawyers for the SBC govt committee researched the listing of accused abusers, taking steps to confirm information it contained. It left unredacted entries about alleged abusers that could possibly be confirmed, while redacting entries where somebody was acquitted or didn't have a last disposition, as well as data that would establish victims.

Missouri males function prominently on the list. They include:

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