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

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

The 205-page listing is a compilation of ministers and other church staff who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. The list is described as a “fluid, working document” that was additionally incomplete but largely pulls information about abusers from revealed news stories.

The publication of the checklist 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 obtained reviews of sexual abuse dedicated by church employees, pastors and others. But those studies were largely kept secret and, rather than acting upon and investigating reports of sexual abuse, denomination leaders sought to intimidate and vilify victims and their advocates.

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

The crisis rocking the Southern Baptist denomination this week is similar in many ways to what the Catholic church continues to face. Leaders in both faiths systematically hid details about sexual misconduct, appeared to point out extra concern about their very own authorized liability than the victims and at occasions didn't 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 intercourse abuse crisis, wrote a letter to SBC leadership conveying his concern that Southern Baptist leaders were repeating the failures of the Catholic church in coping with sex abuse.

Doyle was informed, “Southern Baptist leaders truly don't have any authority over local churches,” a response that Doyle thought to be dismissive, based on the investigative report. 

That very same yr, at the SBC convention 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 “assist in preventing any future sexual abuse or harassment.”

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

Finally, a staffer for the SBC govt committee since 2007 had maintained an inventory of accused ministers and church workers, nevertheless it was stored hidden from the public and even SBC executive committee trustees, in keeping with the report.

Southern Baptist leaders stated publicizing the listing of credibly accused abusers represented “an preliminary, but vital, step in direction of addressing the scourge of sexual abuse and implementing reform in the Convention.”

“Each entry in this list reminds us of the devastation and destruction brought about by sexual abuse,” mentioned a joint assertion from Willie McLaurin and Rolland Slade, both SBC govt committee members. “Our prayer is that the survivors of those heinous acts discover hope and healing, and that churches will utilize this record proactively to guard and care for probably the most weak amongst us.”

Lawyers for the SBC executive committee researched the list of accused abusers, taking steps to confirm data it contained. It left unredacted entries about alleged abusers that might be confirmed, whereas redacting entries where somebody was acquitted or did not have a final disposition, in addition to info that would determine victims.

Missouri men feature prominently on the list. They embrace:

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