Southern Baptists face push for public list of intercourse abusers

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

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

The proposed database is expected to be one of a number of recommendations introduced to thousands of delegates attending this yr’s nationwide assembly, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

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

He expressed hope that the stunning findings in the Guidepost report will deliver “lasting change” to the SBC, America’s largest Protestant denomination. It has been losing membership steadily lately, 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 once more, 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 these experiences of abuse ... and had been singularly focused on avoiding liability,” the report mentioned.

The movement for an independent investigation was put forward finally year’s national assembly by the Rev. Grant Gaines, senior pastor of Belle Aire Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Reading 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 liability over abuse prevention.

“We’re at a fork in the street,” Gaines stated. “I feel this report supplied the data that we needed for there to be a groundswell of assist to take the proper actions.”

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

“I feel that’s one of many first issues we must 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 urgent the SBC since 2006 to create a publicly accessible database of known 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 perform as the default or presumed beginning place for a survivor to attempt to receive an investigation of clergy sex abuse,” she mentioned by way of email. “If the native church is deemed to be a requisite first cease for survivors to pursue motion, then many survivors’ voices will probably be choked of their throats before sound is ever uttered.”

Among the many Guidepost report’s findings was that the Executive Committee saved a secret listing of hundreds of SBC-affiliated clergy and different personnel recognized as sex abusers. Brown stated the committee, at a particular meeting Tuesday, ought to agree to release this listing.

“I urge you to make public the entirety of your listing of pastors & ministers accused of sexual abuse, in whatever type it’s been stored for lo these a few years,” Brown tweeted. “Publish. It. Now.”

The final decisions about suggestions to undergo the Anaheim delegates can be made by the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Job Power, comprising seven members and two advisors. Its work over the previous year has been an emotional journey, stated Pastor Bruce Frank, who led the group.

“We saw patterns and issues that were deeply regarding,” he stated. “Our foremost job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, they usually have performed a truly outstanding job within the last nine months to look at occasions that occurred over 20 years.”

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

Frank mentioned the crux of the duty power’s recommendations based on Guidepost’s report will be summarized in two phrases – prevention and care.

“Our main objective needs to be stopping sexual abuse,” he mentioned. “And if abuse does occur, how do we look after survivors in a significantly better pastoral method? How can we better communicate to make sure (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 may be some disagreement on the way to make issues higher. However I’m assured that we’ll work via the difficulties.”

In addition to sex abuse, the agenda for the assembly in Anaheim contains election of a brand new SBC president to succeed Litton.

One of many main contenders is Bart Barber, a pastor from Farmersville, Texas, who expressed dismay on the mean-spirited behaviors attributed to some SBC officers within the Guidepost report.

If elected, Barber said in a broadcast interview Monday, “I’m praying that God will give me the wisdom to know what to do.... We’re sailing into uncharted waters.”

“The work’s not executed,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, but I think all people within the survivor group that I’ve heard from has mentioned reports are one thing, but we’ll see if this household of churches has the courage 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 hundreds of circumstances in Southern Baptist church buildings, together with a number of in which alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

___

Associated Press faith protection receives help by means of the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.