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 first time, will create a publicly accessible database of pastors and other church personnel recognized to be abusers.

The creation of an “Offender Information System” was one of many key recommendations in a report launched Sunday by Guidepost Options, an unbiased firm contracted by the SBC’s Govt Committee after delegates to final yr’s national meeting pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is anticipated to be one among a number of recommendations introduced to 1000's of delegates attending this year’s national assembly, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

“Those suggestions will be open to questions, debate and feedback on the assembly floor,” said SBC President Ed Litton.

He expressed hope that the stunning findings within the Guidepost report will convey “lasting change” to the SBC, America’s largest Protestant denomination. It has been dropping membership steadily in recent times, whereas 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 Executive Committee, “only to be met, time and time once more, with resistance, stonewalling, and even outright hostility from some within the EC.”

“Our investigation revealed that, for a few years, a few senior EC leaders, together with exterior counsel, largely managed the EC’s response to these reviews of abuse ... and have been singularly focused on avoiding legal responsibility,” the report said.

The movement for an unbiased investigation was put forward finally 12 months’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, as well as leaders prioritizing safety of the SBC from legal responsibility over abuse prevention.

“We’re at a fork in the highway,” Gaines mentioned. “I feel this report offered the information that we wanted for there to be a groundswell of support to take the precise actions.”

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

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

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, but stated questions stay about its implementation.

“What is completely essential is that the local church can't perform as the default or presumed starting place for a survivor to try to get hold of an investigation of clergy intercourse abuse,” she mentioned through electronic 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 many Guidepost report’s findings was that the Executive Committee saved a secret checklist of tons of of SBC-affiliated clergy and other personnel recognized as intercourse abusers. Brown said the committee, at a special assembly Tuesday, ought to agree to release this list.

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

The ultimate selections about suggestions to undergo the Anaheim delegates will probably be made by the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Process Power, comprising seven members and two advisors. Its work over the past year has been an emotional journey, mentioned Pastor Bruce Frank, who led the group.

“We noticed patterns and things that had been deeply concerning,” he mentioned. “Our important job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, they usually have completed a truly remarkable job in the final nine months to look at occasions that occurred over 20 years.”

In the next week or so, the task pressure will deliver forth formal motions in “precise language,” which might be made public and presented to the delegates in Anaheim for a vote, mentioned Frank, lead pastor of Biltmore Baptist Church in Arden, North Carolina.

Frank stated the crux of the duty drive’s recommendations based on Guidepost’s report might be summarized in two words – prevention and care.

“Our important goal needs to be preventing sexual abuse,” he said. “And if abuse does occur, how will we look after survivors in a much better pastoral approach? How can we higher talk to verify (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 issues be better,” Frank said. “SBC is a big family with 48,000 churches. There might be some disagreement on how you can make issues higher. However I’m assured that we’ll work through the difficulties.”

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

One of the main 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 stated in a broadcast interview Monday, “I’m praying that God will give me the wisdom to know what to do.... We’re crusing into uncharted waters.”

“The work’s not done,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, but I feel everybody within the survivor group that I’ve heard from has said studies are one factor, but we’ll see if this household of churches has the braveness and resolve to take motion.”

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

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