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

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

The 205-page list is a compilation of ministers and other church employees who've been credibly accused of sexual abuse. The checklist is described as a “fluid, working document” that was additionally incomplete however largely pulls information about abusers from published news stories.

The publication of the record comes after the discharge Sunday of a 300-page report by an impartial investigator that described how leaders of the Southern Baptist denomination for many years have acquired reports of sexual abuse dedicated by church staff, pastors and others. But these studies have been largely stored secret and, fairly than performing upon and investigating stories of sexual abuse, denomination leaders sought to intimidate and vilify victims and their advocates.

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

The crisis rocking the Southern Baptist denomination this week is comparable in many ways to what the Catholic church continues to face. Leaders in each faiths systematically hid information about sexual misconduct, appeared to point out more concern about their very own legal legal responsibility than the victims and at instances 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 personal denomination’s clergy intercourse abuse crisis, wrote a letter to SBC leadership conveying his concern that Southern Baptist leaders had been repeating the failures of the Catholic church in coping with sex abuse.

Doyle was instructed, “Southern Baptist leaders really have no authority over native church buildings,” a response that Doyle thought to be dismissive, based on the investigative report. 

That same year, on the SBC conference 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 “assist in preventing any future sexual abuse or harassment.”

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

Ultimately, a staffer for the SBC executive committee since 2007 had maintained a list of accused ministers and church employees, but it was saved hidden from the public and even SBC government committee trustees, in keeping with the report.

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

“Every entry in this record reminds us of the devastation and destruction led to by sexual abuse,” mentioned a joint statement from Willie McLaurin and Rolland Slade, both SBC government committee members. “Our prayer is that the survivors of these heinous acts find hope and healing, and that churches will make the most of this listing proactively to protect and take care of the most vulnerable amongst us.”

Attorneys for the SBC executive committee researched the list of accused abusers, taking steps to verify information it contained. It left unredacted entries about alleged abusers that could be confirmed, while redacting entries where somebody was acquitted or did not have a final disposition, in addition to info that might identify victims.

Missouri men feature prominently on the listing. They embody:

This story comes from the Midwest Newsroom, an investigative journalism collaboration together with 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 comply with us on Twitter.