Southern Baptists face push for public checklist of sex abusers

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

The creation of an “Offender Info System” was one of the key suggestions in a report launched Sunday by Guidepost Solutions, an independent agency contracted by the SBC’s Executive Committee after delegates to last year’s national meeting pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is anticipated to be considered one of a number of recommendations offered to hundreds of delegates attending this 12 months’s nationwide assembly, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

“These recommendations might be open to questions, debate and feedback on the assembly flooring,” mentioned SBC President Ed Litton.

He expressed hope that the surprising findings in the Guidepost report will convey “lasting change” to the SBC, America’s largest Protestant denomination. It has been losing membership steadily in recent years, whereas being wracked by internal 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 again, with resistance, stonewalling, and even outright hostility from some throughout the EC.”

“Our investigation revealed that, for a few years, a few senior EC leaders, together with exterior counsel, largely controlled the EC’s response to those studies of abuse ... and were singularly focused on avoiding liability,” the report stated.

The motion for an independent investigation was put forward at last 12 months’s nationwide 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, in addition to leaders prioritizing safety of the SBC from legal responsibility over abuse prevention.

“We’re at a fork within the street,” Gaines stated. “I feel this report provided the information that we would have liked for there to be a groundswell of assist to take the precise actions.”

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

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

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, however mentioned questions stay about its implementation.

“What is absolutely important is that the local church can not operate because the default or presumed starting place for a survivor to try to get hold of an investigation of clergy intercourse abuse,” she said via e-mail. “If the local church is deemed to be a requisite first stop for survivors to pursue motion, then many survivors’ voices will be choked of their throats earlier than sound is ever uttered.”

Among the many Guidepost report’s findings was that the Government Committee kept a secret record of a whole lot of SBC-affiliated clergy and other personnel recognized as sex abusers. Brown said the committee, at a particular assembly Tuesday, should comply with launch this list.

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

The ultimate choices about suggestions to submit to the Anaheim delegates can be made by the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Job Power, comprising seven members and two advisors. Its work over the past 12 months has been an emotional journey, said Pastor Bruce Frank, who led the group.

“We noticed patterns and things that had been deeply concerning,” he stated. “Our major job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, they usually have finished a truly remarkable job within the final 9 months to take a look at events that occurred over 20 years.”

In the subsequent week or so, the task force will deliver forth formal motions in “exact language,” which shall 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 task force’s recommendations primarily based on Guidepost’s report will be summarized in two words – prevention and care.

“Our main objective ought to be stopping sexual abuse,” he stated. “And if abuse does happen, how do we look after survivors in a much better pastoral means? 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 look at what’s in that report and demand that issues be better,” Frank mentioned. “SBC is a giant household with 48,000 church buildings. There might be some disagreement on how to make issues better. However I’m assured that we’ll work by means of the difficulties.”

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

One of many leading 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 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 completed,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, however I believe all people within the survivor group that I’ve heard from has stated studies are one thing, but we’ll see if this household of churches has the courage and resolve to take action.”

The intercourse abuse scandal was thrust into the highlight in 2019 by a landmark report from the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-Information documenting a whole lot of cases in Southern Baptist churches, together with a number of wherein alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

___

Related Press faith protection receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely liable for this content material.