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

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

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

The publication of the checklist comes after the release Sunday of a 300-page report by an unbiased investigator that described how leaders of the Southern Baptist denomination for many years have acquired experiences of sexual abuse dedicated by church employees, pastors and others. But those reviews have been largely kept secret and, quite than acting 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 is,” wrote former Southern Baptist Convention executive committee member and common counsel D. August Boto in an internal e mail that was revealed within the report. “It’s a satanic scheme to fully distract us from evangelism.”

The crisis rocking the Southern Baptist denomination this week is analogous in some ways to what the Catholic church continues to face. Leaders in each faiths systematically hid details about sexual misconduct, appeared to show extra concern about their own legal liability than the victims and at instances did not expel accused abusers from positions of authority.

In 2007, Father Thomas Doyle, a Catholic priest credited as one of many first to warn of his personal denomination’s clergy intercourse abuse crisis, wrote a letter to SBC leadership conveying his concern that Southern Baptist leaders have been repeating the failures of the Catholic church in coping with intercourse abuse.

Doyle was told, “Southern Baptist leaders really have no authority over native church buildings,” a response that Doyle considered dismissive, according to the investigative report. 

That very same year, 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 “help in stopping any future sexual abuse or harassment.”

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

Finally, a staffer for the SBC executive committee since 2007 had maintained an inventory of accused ministers and church workers, nevertheless it was kept hidden from the public and even SBC executive committee trustees, based on the report.

Southern Baptist leaders said publicizing the record of credibly accused abusers represented “an preliminary, however essential, step in direction of addressing the scourge of sexual abuse and implementing reform in the Conference.”

“Each entry on this checklist reminds us of the devastation and destruction caused by sexual abuse,” stated a joint statement from Willie McLaurin and Rolland Slade, both SBC govt committee members. “Our prayer is that the survivors of these heinous acts discover hope and healing, and that churches will make the most of this checklist proactively to protect and take care of essentially the most susceptible amongst us.”

Lawyers for the SBC government committee researched the record of accused abusers, taking steps to verify info it contained. It left unredacted entries about alleged abusers that might be confirmed, whereas redacting entries the place someone was acquitted or didn't have a closing disposition, in addition to information that could identify victims.

Missouri men function prominently on the record. They embody:

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