Southern Baptists face push for public listing 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 different church personnel identified to be abusers.

The creation of an “Offender Info System” was one of many key recommendations in a report launched Sunday by Guidepost Solutions, an impartial firm contracted by the SBC’s Government Committee after delegates to last yr’s national meeting pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is predicted to be one of a number of suggestions introduced to hundreds of delegates attending this yr’s nationwide meeting, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

“Those suggestions might be open to questions, debate and comments on the assembly floor,” 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 shedding membership steadily in recent times, while being wracked by inside divisions over race and gender roles.

The Guidepost report said survivors of abuse by SBC clergy repeatedly shared allegations with the Government 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, along with outdoors counsel, largely controlled the EC’s response to those reports of abuse ... and had been singularly focused on avoiding legal responsibility,” the report mentioned.

The motion for an independent investigation was put ahead ultimately year’s nationwide 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, as well as leaders prioritizing protection of the SBC from legal responsibility over abuse prevention.

“We’re at a fork in the road,” Gaines mentioned. “I think this report offered the knowledge that we wanted for there to be a groundswell of help to take the correct actions.”

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

“I believe that’s one of many first issues we should always 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 pressing the SBC since 2006 to create a publicly accessible database of identified abusers. She was heartened that Guidepost was recommending such a system, however stated questions remain about its implementation.

“What is absolutely important is that the native church can't function as the default or presumed beginning place for a survivor to try to acquire an investigation of clergy sex abuse,” she stated via email. “If the local church is deemed to be a requisite first stop for survivors to pursue motion, then many survivors’ voices will probably be choked in their throats earlier than sound is ever uttered.”

Among the many Guidepost report’s findings was that the Government Committee stored a secret list of lots of of SBC-affiliated clergy and different personnel recognized as intercourse abusers. Brown said the committee, at a special meeting Tuesday, ought to comply with release this list.

“I urge you to make public everything of your listing of pastors & ministers accused of sexual abuse, in whatever kind it’s been stored for lo these many years,” Brown tweeted. “Put up. It. Now.”

The ultimate decisions about recommendations 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 previous 12 months has been an emotional journey, mentioned Pastor Bruce Frank, who led the group.

“We noticed patterns and things that were deeply concerning,” he said. “Our essential job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, and so they have performed a really outstanding job within the last 9 months to look at events that occurred over 20 years.”

In the next week or so, the duty power will deliver forth formal motions in “exact language,” which will be made public and offered to the delegates in Anaheim for a vote, stated Frank, lead pastor of Biltmore Baptist Church in Arden, North Carolina.

Frank said the crux of the task force’s recommendations primarily based on Guidepost’s report might be summarized in two phrases – prevention and care.

“Our major aim ought to be stopping sexual abuse,” he mentioned. “And if abuse does occur, how can we care for survivors in a much better pastoral way? How can we higher communicate 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 issues be higher,” Frank said. “SBC is a giant household with 48,000 church buildings. There could be some disagreement on easy methods to make things higher. But I’m confident that we’ll work through the difficulties.”

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

One of the leading contenders is Bart Barber, a pastor from Farmersville, Texas, who expressed dismay on the mean-spirited behaviors attributed to some SBC officials within 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 crusing into uncharted waters.”

“The work’s not completed,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, but I believe everyone in the survivor community that I’ve heard from has said studies are one factor, however we’ll see if this family of churches has the courage and resolve to take action.”

The sex abuse scandal was thrust into the highlight in 2019 by a landmark report from the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Specific-News documenting hundreds of instances in Southern Baptist church buildings, together with several during which alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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