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 elevating the prospect that the denomination, for the first time, will create a publicly accessible database of pastors and different church personnel known to be abusers.

The creation of an “Offender Data System” was one of the key recommendations in a report released Sunday by Guidepost Options, an impartial firm contracted by the SBC’s Executive Committee after delegates to last year’s nationwide meeting pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is expected to be certainly one of several recommendations offered to 1000's of delegates attending this year’s national assembly, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

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

He expressed hope that the surprising findings within the Guidepost report will bring “lasting change” to the SBC, America’s largest Protestant denomination. It has been shedding membership steadily in recent times, whereas being wracked by inner divisions over race and gender roles.

The Guidepost report stated survivors of abuse by SBC clergy repeatedly shared allegations with the Executive Committee, “only to be met, time and time once more, with resistance, stonewalling, and even outright hostility from some inside the EC.”

“Our investigation revealed that, for a few years, a couple of senior EC leaders, together with outdoors counsel, largely managed the EC’s response to these studies of abuse ... and were singularly centered on avoiding legal responsibility,” the report stated.

The motion for an independent investigation was put ahead at last year’s nationwide assembly by the Rev. Grant Gaines, senior pastor of Belle Aire Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

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

“We’re at a fork in the highway,” Gaines stated. “I feel this report provided the information that we wanted for there to be a groundswell of support to take the proper actions.”

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

“I feel that’s one of the first things we must 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 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 stated questions remain about its implementation.

“What is totally essential is that the local church can't function because the default or presumed starting place for a survivor to try to get hold of an investigation of clergy sex abuse,” she stated via e-mail. “If the local church is deemed to be a requisite first stop for survivors to pursue action, then many survivors’ voices can be choked of their throats earlier than sound is ever uttered.”

Among the Guidepost report’s findings was that the Government Committee kept a secret list of a whole bunch of SBC-affiliated clergy and other personnel recognized as intercourse abusers. Brown mentioned the committee, at a particular assembly Tuesday, should conform to release this checklist.

“I urge you to make public the whole thing 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. “Put up. It. Now.”

The final selections about suggestions to undergo the Anaheim delegates will be made by the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Task Drive, comprising seven members and two advisors. Its work over the past 12 months has been an emotional journey, mentioned Pastor Bruce Frank, who led the group.

“We noticed patterns and issues that were deeply concerning,” he mentioned. “Our main job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, they usually have executed a very remarkable job in the last nine months to have a look at occasions that occurred over 20 years.”

In the subsequent week or so, the duty drive will bring 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 said the crux of the task pressure’s recommendations based mostly on Guidepost’s report could be summarized in two phrases – prevention and care.

“Our primary purpose ought to be stopping sexual abuse,” he said. “And if abuse does occur, how will we look after survivors in a significantly better pastoral way? How can we higher communicate to verify (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 take a look at what’s in that report and demand that issues be better,” Frank said. “SBC is a big household with 48,000 churches. There could be some disagreement on tips on how to make things better. However I’m assured that we’ll work by means of the difficulties.”

Along with intercourse abuse, the agenda for the assembly in Anaheim consists of 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 officers in the Guidepost report.

If elected, Barber said in a broadcast interview Monday, “I’m praying that God will give me the knowledge to know what to do.... We’re sailing into uncharted waters.”

“The work’s not performed,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, but I feel everyone within the survivor group that I’ve heard from has mentioned studies are one factor, but we’ll see if this household of church buildings has the courage and resolve to take motion.”

The sex abuse scandal was thrust into the spotlight in 2019 by a landmark report from the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News documenting a whole lot of circumstances in Southern Baptist churches, together with several during which alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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