Southern Baptists face push for public record of intercourse 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 recognized to be abusers.

The creation of an “Offender Info System” was one of the key suggestions in a report launched Sunday by Guidepost Options, an unbiased firm contracted by the SBC’s Executive Committee after delegates to final 12 months’s national assembly pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is anticipated to be one of several suggestions introduced to 1000's of delegates attending this yr’s national assembly, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

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

He expressed hope that the shocking findings within the Guidepost report will convey “lasting change” to the SBC, America’s largest Protestant denomination. It has been dropping 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 many years, a couple of senior EC leaders, together with outside counsel, largely controlled the EC’s response to those reports of abuse ... and had been singularly centered on avoiding liability,” the report said.

The motion for an independent 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.

Reading the Guidepost report, Gaines said he was struck by repeated examples of a callous disregard for survivors, in addition to leaders prioritizing protection of the SBC from liability over abuse prevention.

“We’re at a fork within the street,” Gaines mentioned. “I believe this report offered the data that we wanted for there to be a groundswell of support to take the fitting actions.”

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

“I feel that’s one of the first things we should 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 urgent the SBC since 2006 to create a publicly accessible database of recognized abusers. She was heartened that Guidepost was recommending such a system, but mentioned questions remain about its implementation.

“What is absolutely critical is that the native church can't perform as the default or presumed starting place for a survivor to try to obtain an investigation of clergy intercourse abuse,” she mentioned via e-mail. “If the local church is deemed to be a requisite first cease for survivors to pursue action, then many survivors’ voices will be choked of their throats before sound is ever uttered.”

Among the Guidepost report’s findings was that the Government Committee saved a secret list of a whole bunch of SBC-affiliated clergy and different personnel recognized as sex abusers. Brown said the committee, at a special assembly Tuesday, should agree to launch this list.

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

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

“We saw patterns and issues that have been deeply concerning,” he mentioned. “Our predominant job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, and they have achieved a really exceptional job within the final 9 months to look at occasions that occurred over 20 years.”

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

Frank mentioned the crux of the task power’s suggestions based on Guidepost’s report can be summarized in two phrases – prevention and care.

“Our important objective should be stopping sexual abuse,” he mentioned. “And if abuse does happen, how can we look after survivors in a much better pastoral means? How can we better talk to ensure (abusers) don’t go from one church to a different?”

His hope is that this report serves as “a catalyst for change.”

“Any person who is fair-minded will have a look at what’s in that report and demand that things be higher,” Frank stated. “SBC is a giant family with 48,000 church buildings. There might be some disagreement on the right way to make things better. But I’m assured that we’ll work by means of the difficulties.”

Along with intercourse abuse, the agenda for the assembly 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 stated in a broadcast interview Monday, “I’m praying that God will give me the knowledge to know what to do.... We’re crusing into uncharted waters.”

“The work’s not achieved,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, but I believe everyone in the survivor neighborhood that I’ve heard from has mentioned experiences are one factor, but we’ll see if this household of church buildings has the courage 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 a whole bunch of cases in Southern Baptist churches, including several through which alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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