Eight Missouri ministers accused of intercourse abuse in Southern Baptist Convention report • Missouri Unbiased

The Southern Baptist Convention on Thursday launched a once-secret and prolonged record of accused sex abusers — several of whom are within the Midwest — throughout the denomination.

The 205-page checklist is a compilation of ministers and different church employees who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. The list is described as a “fluid, working doc” that was also incomplete however largely pulls information about abusers from revealed news experiences.

The publication of the checklist comes after the discharge Sunday of a 300-page report by an independent investigator that described how leaders of the Southern Baptist denomination for decades have received experiences of sexual abuse committed by church staff, pastors and others. But those reviews were largely kept secret and, somewhat than appearing upon and investigating reports of sexual abuse, denomination leaders sought to intimidate and vilify victims and their advocates.

“The entire thing ought to be seen for what it is,” wrote former Southern Baptist Convention executive committee member and common counsel D. August Boto in an inner e mail that was published within the report. “It’s a satanic scheme to fully distract us from evangelism.”

The disaster rocking the Southern Baptist denomination this week is similar in some ways to what the Catholic church continues to face. Leaders in both faiths systematically hid information about sexual misconduct, appeared to point out more concern about their own authorized legal responsibility 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 the first to warn of his personal denomination’s clergy sex abuse disaster, wrote a letter to SBC management conveying his concern that Southern Baptist leaders have been repeating the failures of the Catholic church in dealing with intercourse abuse.

Doyle was told, “Southern Baptist leaders really have no authority over native churches,” a response that Doyle thought to be dismissive, in keeping with the investigative report. 

That same 12 months, on the SBC conference 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 accordance with the report, and witnesses on the conference recalled little about it except to specific their opinion that it will “violate local church autonomy.”

In the end, a staffer for the SBC government committee since 2007 had maintained an inventory of accused ministers and church staff, but it was saved hidden from the public and even SBC govt committee trustees, in line with the report.

Southern Baptist leaders stated publicizing the checklist of credibly accused abusers represented “an preliminary, however essential, step towards addressing the scourge of sexual abuse and implementing reform within the Convention.”

“Every entry in this checklist reminds us of the devastation and destruction led to by sexual abuse,” mentioned a joint statement from Willie McLaurin and Rolland Slade, both SBC executive committee members. “Our prayer is that the survivors of these heinous acts find hope and therapeutic, and that church buildings will make the most of this list proactively to guard and look after probably the most weak amongst us.”

Lawyers for the SBC government committee researched the checklist of accused abusers, taking steps to verify data it contained. It left unredacted entries about alleged abusers that could possibly be confirmed, while redacting entries the place someone was acquitted or did not have a ultimate disposition, as well as data that would identify victims.

Missouri males characteristic prominently on the record. They include:

This story comes from the Midwest Newsroom, an investigative journalism collaboration including IPR, KCUR 89.3, Nebraska Public Media Information, St. Louis Public Radio and NPR. For extra in-depth information from Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, we invite you to comply with us on Twitter.