Eight Missouri ministers accused of sex abuse in Southern Baptist Conference report • Missouri Unbiased

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

The 205-page listing is a compilation of ministers and other church staff who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. The listing is described as a “fluid, working document” that was additionally incomplete however largely pulls information about abusers from printed information studies.

The publication of the record comes after the release Sunday of a 300-page report by an impartial investigator that described how leaders of the Southern Baptist denomination for decades have acquired experiences of sexual abuse committed by church workers, pastors and others. However these reports have been largely kept secret and, slightly than appearing upon and investigating stories of sexual abuse, denomination leaders sought to intimidate and vilify victims and their advocates.

“The whole thing must be seen for what it's,” wrote former Southern Baptist Convention govt committee member and normal counsel D. August Boto in an inside e mail that was published within the report. “It’s a satanic scheme to completely distract us from evangelism.”

The crisis rocking the Southern Baptist denomination this week is similar in many ways to what the Catholic church continues to face. Leaders in both faiths systematically hid details about sexual misconduct, appeared to show more concern about their own authorized liability than the victims and at instances 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 intercourse abuse disaster, wrote a letter to SBC management conveying his concern that Southern Baptist leaders were repeating the failures of the Catholic church in coping with sex abuse.

Doyle was advised, “Southern Baptist leaders truly haven't any authority over native churches,” a response that Doyle thought to be dismissive, in accordance with the investigative report. 

That very same year, at the SBC convention in San Antonio, Oklahoma pastor Wade Burleson made a motion 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 “help in stopping any future sexual abuse or harassment.”

The database proposal appeared to go nowhere, in response to the report, and witnesses at the conference recalled little about it except to precise their opinion that it could “violate local church autonomy.”

In the end, a staffer for the SBC govt committee since 2007 had maintained an inventory of accused ministers and church workers, nevertheless it was saved hidden from the public and even SBC govt committee trustees, according to the report.

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

“Each entry on this list reminds us of the devastation and destruction led to by sexual abuse,” mentioned a joint assertion from Willie McLaurin and Rolland Slade, both SBC executive committee members. “Our prayer is that the survivors of those heinous acts find hope and healing, and that churches will utilize this listing proactively to guard and take care of essentially the most weak amongst us.”

Attorneys for the SBC govt committee researched the listing of accused abusers, taking steps to confirm information it contained. It left unredacted entries about alleged abusers that may very well be confirmed, while redacting entries where someone was acquitted or didn't have a final disposition, in addition to info that might identify victims.

Missouri males characteristic prominently on the listing. They include:

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