Eight Missouri ministers accused of intercourse abuse in Southern Baptist Convention report • Missouri Impartial

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

The 205-page checklist is a compilation of ministers and different church staff who've been credibly accused of sexual abuse. The checklist is described as a “fluid, working doc” that was also incomplete but largely pulls information about abusers from revealed information studies.

The publication of the listing 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 acquired studies of sexual abuse dedicated by church workers, pastors and others. However these reviews were largely stored secret and, fairly than appearing upon and investigating stories of sexual abuse, denomination leaders sought to intimidate and vilify victims and their advocates.

“The entire thing ought to be seen for what it is,” wrote former Southern Baptist Convention government committee member and basic counsel D. August Boto in an inside e-mail that was published within the report. “It’s a satanic scheme to utterly distract us from evangelism.”

The crisis rocking the Southern Baptist denomination this week is comparable in some ways to what the Catholic church continues to face. Leaders in both faiths systematically hid information about sexual misconduct, appeared to point out more concern about their very own legal liability than the victims and at times failed to 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 own denomination’s clergy intercourse abuse disaster, wrote a letter to SBC leadership 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 don't have any authority over local church buildings,” a response that Doyle thought to be dismissive, in response to the investigative report. 

That same 12 months, 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, based on the report, and witnesses at the convention recalled little about it except to precise their opinion that it might “violate local church autonomy.”

Finally, a staffer for the SBC govt committee since 2007 had maintained a list of accused ministers and church employees, nevertheless it was saved hidden from the public and even SBC government committee trustees, according to the report.

Southern Baptist leaders said publicizing the checklist of credibly accused abusers represented “an preliminary, however important, step towards addressing the scourge of sexual abuse and implementing reform within the Convention.”

“Every entry in this record reminds us of the devastation and destruction brought about by sexual abuse,” stated a joint statement from Willie McLaurin and Rolland Slade, each SBC govt committee members. “Our prayer is that the survivors of these heinous acts discover hope and healing, and that churches will utilize this list proactively to guard and care for essentially the most weak among us.”

Attorneys for the SBC government committee researched the listing of accused abusers, taking steps to confirm data it contained. It left unredacted entries about alleged abusers that may very well be confirmed, whereas redacting entries where someone was acquitted or did not have a last disposition, as well as information that would establish victims.

Missouri males function 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 Information, St. Louis Public Radio and NPR. For more in-depth news from Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, we invite you to comply with us on Twitter.