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

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

The 205-page record is a compilation of ministers and other church employees who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. The listing is described as a “fluid, working doc” that was also incomplete but largely pulls details about abusers from published news stories.

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

“The whole thing needs to be seen for what it's,” wrote former Southern Baptist Convention govt committee member and normal counsel D. August Boto in an inner e-mail that was revealed in the report. “It’s a satanic scheme to utterly 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 each faiths systematically hid details about sexual misconduct, appeared to indicate extra concern about their very own legal legal responsibility 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 many 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 had been repeating the failures of the Catholic church in dealing with intercourse abuse.

Doyle was advised, “Southern Baptist leaders truly haven't any authority over local churches,” a response that Doyle considered dismissive, based on the investigative report. 

That very same yr, at the SBC convention 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 stopping 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 express their opinion that it would “violate local church autonomy.”

Ultimately, a staffer for the SBC government committee since 2007 had maintained a listing of accused ministers and church workers, but it was saved hidden from the public and even SBC government committee trustees, in response to the report.

Southern Baptist leaders mentioned publicizing the listing of credibly accused abusers represented “an initial, but essential, step in the direction of addressing the scourge of sexual abuse and implementing reform within the Conference.”

“Each entry on this list reminds us of the devastation and destruction brought about by sexual abuse,” stated 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 checklist proactively to protect and look after the most vulnerable among us.”

Legal professionals for the SBC executive committee researched the record of accused abusers, taking steps to confirm info it contained. It left unredacted entries about alleged abusers that might be confirmed, whereas redacting entries where someone was acquitted or did not have a remaining disposition, as well as information that might determine victims.

Missouri men function prominently on the listing. They embody:

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 more in-depth news from Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, we invite you to follow us on Twitter.