Southern Baptists face push for public list of sex abusers

A blistering report on the Southern Baptist Convention’s mishandling of sex abuse allegations is raising the prospect that the denomination, for the primary time, will create a publicly accessible database of pastors and other church personnel identified to be abusers.

The creation of an “Offender Information System” was one of many key suggestions in a report released Sunday by Guidepost Solutions, an impartial agency contracted by the SBC’s Government Committee after delegates to final yr’s nationwide assembly pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is predicted to be one in all several recommendations introduced to hundreds of delegates attending this year’s national meeting, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

“These recommendations will probably be open to questions, debate and comments on the meeting ground,” said SBC President Ed Litton.

He expressed hope that the surprising findings within the Guidepost report will carry “lasting change” to the SBC, America’s largest Protestant denomination. It has been losing membership steadily in recent times, 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 Government 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 many years, a few senior EC leaders, along with outdoors counsel, largely managed the EC’s response to those experiences of abuse ... and have been singularly focused on avoiding liability,” the report said.

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

Reading the Guidepost report, Gaines stated 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 mentioned. “I think this report offered the information that we would have liked for there to be a groundswell of assist to take the precise actions.”

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

“I feel that’s one of many first things we should always do,” he mentioned.

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 critical is that the native church cannot function because the default or presumed starting place for a survivor to attempt to acquire an investigation of clergy intercourse abuse,” she said through email. “If the local church is deemed to be a requisite first stop for survivors to pursue action, then many survivors’ voices can be choked in their throats earlier than sound is ever uttered.”

Among the many Guidepost report’s findings was that the Executive Committee kept a secret list of a whole lot of SBC-affiliated clergy and different personnel identified as intercourse abusers. Brown mentioned the committee, at a special meeting Tuesday, should agree to release this list.

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

The ultimate decisions about suggestions to submit to the Anaheim delegates shall be made by the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Job Drive, 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 noticed patterns and issues that have been deeply regarding,” he stated. “Our important job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, and so they have finished a very outstanding job within the last nine months to have a look at events that occurred over 20 years.”

In the subsequent week or so, the duty drive will carry forth formal motions in “exact language,” which will likely be made public and introduced to the delegates in Anaheim for a vote, stated Frank, lead pastor of Biltmore Baptist Church in Arden, North Carolina.

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

“Our primary purpose ought to be preventing sexual abuse,” he mentioned. “And if abuse does occur, how can we take care of survivors in a a lot better pastoral manner? 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 higher,” Frank stated. “SBC is a giant family with 48,000 church buildings. There is perhaps some disagreement on easy methods to make things higher. But I’m assured that we’ll work by the difficulties.”

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

One of the leading contenders is Bart Barber, a pastor from Farmersville, Texas, who expressed dismay at the mean-spirited behaviors attributed to some SBC officers within 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 think everybody in the survivor group that I’ve heard from has mentioned experiences are one factor, but we’ll see if this household of churches has the courage 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 Express-News documenting a whole lot of circumstances in Southern Baptist churches, including several wherein alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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