Southern Baptists face push for public checklist 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 identified to be abusers.

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

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

“Those recommendations will likely be open to questions, debate and comments on the meeting ground,” stated SBC President Ed Litton.

He expressed hope that the surprising findings in the Guidepost report will carry “lasting change” to the SBC, America’s largest Protestant denomination. It has been shedding membership steadily in recent years, while being wracked by inside 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 once more, 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 reviews of abuse ... and have been singularly centered on avoiding liability,” the report mentioned.

The motion for an unbiased investigation was put forward eventually 12 months’s national assembly by the Rev. Grant Gaines, senior pastor of Belle Aire Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Studying the Guidepost report, Gaines mentioned 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 street,” Gaines mentioned. “I feel this report supplied the information that we wanted for there to be a groundswell of help to take the precise actions.”

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

“I think that’s one of many first issues we should 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 recognized abusers. She was heartened that Guidepost was recommending such a system, however said questions stay about its implementation.

“What is absolutely important is that the local church can not function because the default or presumed starting place for a survivor to attempt to get hold of an investigation of clergy sex abuse,” she said via email. “If the local church is deemed to be a requisite first stop for survivors to pursue motion, then many survivors’ voices will be choked in their throats before sound is ever uttered.”

Among the many Guidepost report’s findings was that the Executive Committee saved a secret record of a whole lot of SBC-affiliated clergy and other personnel identified as sex abusers. Brown said the committee, at a special assembly Tuesday, ought to conform to release this checklist.

“I urge you to make public the entirety of your listing of pastors & ministers accused of sexual abuse, in no matter kind it’s been saved for lo these a few years,” Brown tweeted. “Submit. It. Now.”

The ultimate decisions about suggestions to submit to the Anaheim delegates will be made by the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Activity Force, comprising seven members and two advisors. Its work over the past yr has been an emotional journey, said Pastor Bruce Frank, who led the group.

“We noticed patterns and things that had been deeply concerning,” he mentioned. “Our foremost job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, they usually have carried out a very exceptional job within the final nine months to take a look at events that occurred over 20 years.”

Within the next week or so, the task pressure will carry forth formal motions in “exact language,” which will likely be made public and presented to the delegates in Anaheim for a vote, stated Frank, lead pastor of Biltmore Baptist Church in Arden, North Carolina.

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

“Our fundamental purpose must be stopping sexual abuse,” he said. “And if abuse does occur, how can we care for survivors in a a lot better pastoral way? How can we higher communicate to make sure (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 take a look at what’s in that report and demand that things be higher,” Frank mentioned. “SBC is a big family with 48,000 church buildings. There is perhaps some disagreement on tips on how to make issues better. But I’m confident that we’ll work by the difficulties.”

Along with sex abuse, the agenda for the meeting in Anaheim contains election of a brand 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 officials in the Guidepost report.

If elected, Barber mentioned 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 completed,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, however I feel everyone within the survivor community that I’ve heard from has mentioned experiences are one thing, however we’ll see if this family of church buildings has the braveness and resolve to take motion.”

The intercourse abuse scandal was thrust into the highlight in 2019 by a landmark report from the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Categorical-Information documenting hundreds of circumstances in Southern Baptist churches, including a number of by which alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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