Southern Baptists face push for public listing of intercourse 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 recognized to be abusers.

The creation of an “Offender Info System” was one of the key suggestions in a report launched Sunday by Guidepost Options, an independent firm contracted by the SBC’s Executive Committee after delegates to last yr’s nationwide meeting pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is expected to be certainly one of a number of recommendations presented to thousands of delegates attending this year’s national assembly, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

“Those suggestions will probably be open to questions, debate and comments on the assembly flooring,” said SBC President Ed Litton.

He expressed hope that the stunning findings within the Guidepost report will deliver “lasting change” to the SBC, America’s largest Protestant denomination. It has been dropping membership steadily lately, whereas being wracked by internal divisions over race and gender roles.

The Guidepost report said survivors of abuse by SBC clergy repeatedly shared allegations with the Government Committee, “only to be met, time and time again, with resistance, stonewalling, and even outright hostility from some within the EC.”

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

The movement for an impartial investigation was put ahead ultimately yr’s national meeting 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, as well as leaders prioritizing safety of the SBC from liability over abuse prevention.

“We’re at a fork within the road,” Gaines said. “I think this report supplied the information that we would have liked for there to be a groundswell of help 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 many first issues we must always do,” he said.

Lawyer and author Christa Brown, who says she was sexually abused as a teen by the youth minister at her SBC church, has been pressing the SBC since 2006 to create a publicly accessible database of recognized abusers. She was heartened that Guidepost was recommending such a system, however stated questions stay about its implementation.

“What is completely essential is that the native church can not perform as the default or presumed beginning place for a survivor to attempt to acquire an investigation of clergy intercourse abuse,” she mentioned via electronic mail. “If the local church is deemed to be a requisite first cease for survivors to pursue action, then many survivors’ voices shall be choked in their throats earlier than sound is ever uttered.”

Among the many Guidepost report’s findings was that the Government Committee stored a secret listing of lots of of SBC-affiliated clergy and different personnel identified as intercourse abusers. Brown stated the committee, at a particular assembly Tuesday, ought to comply with launch this record.

“I urge you to make public the entirety of your checklist of pastors & ministers accused of sexual abuse, in whatever kind it’s been stored for lo these many years,” Brown tweeted. “Put up. It. Now.”

The final selections about recommendations to undergo the Anaheim delegates will be made by the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Process Pressure, comprising seven members and two advisors. Its work over the previous yr has been an emotional journey, mentioned Pastor Bruce Frank, who led the group.

“We saw patterns and things that have been deeply concerning,” he said. “Our principal job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, they usually have achieved a very remarkable job within the final nine months to take a look at occasions that occurred over 20 years.”

In the next week or so, the task force will deliver forth formal motions in “exact language,” which will be made public and presented to the delegates in Anaheim for a vote, said Frank, lead pastor of Biltmore Baptist Church in Arden, North Carolina.

Frank stated the crux of the duty pressure’s suggestions based mostly on Guidepost’s report might be summarized in two phrases – prevention and care.

“Our fundamental objective must be preventing sexual abuse,” he said. “And if abuse does happen, how will we look after survivors in a a lot better pastoral approach? How can we better talk to verify (abusers) don’t go from one church to another?”

His hope is that this report serves as “a catalyst for change.”

“Any one who is fair-minded will take a look at what’s in that report and demand that things be better,” Frank stated. “SBC is a big household with 48,000 church buildings. There is perhaps some disagreement on methods to make issues better. But I’m confident that we’ll work by means of the difficulties.”

Along with sex abuse, the agenda for the meeting in Anaheim contains election of a brand new SBC president to succeed Litton.

One of many leading contenders is Bart Barber, a pastor from Farmersville, Texas, who expressed dismay at the mean-spirited behaviors attributed to some SBC officers in the Guidepost report.

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

“The work’s not completed,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, however I believe all people within the survivor community that I’ve heard from has stated reviews are one thing, however we’ll see if this family of churches has the braveness and resolve to take motion.”

The sex abuse scandal was thrust into the highlight in 2019 by a landmark report from the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Specific-Information documenting a whole lot of instances in Southern Baptist churches, including several in which alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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