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

The Southern Baptist Conference on Thursday released a once-secret and lengthy record of accused sex abusers — several of whom are within the Midwest — within the denomination.

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

The publication of the checklist comes after the release Sunday of a 300-page report by an independent investigator that described how leaders of the Southern Baptist denomination for decades have obtained reports of sexual abuse committed by church employees, pastors and others. However those reports were largely saved secret and, reasonably than appearing upon and investigating reports of sexual abuse, denomination leaders sought to intimidate and vilify victims and their advocates.

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

The disaster rocking the Southern Baptist denomination this week is analogous 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 extra concern about their own authorized liability than the victims and at times did not 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 were repeating the failures of the Catholic church in dealing with sex abuse.

Doyle was informed, “Southern Baptist leaders truly haven't any authority over local church buildings,” a response that Doyle considered dismissive, in keeping with the investigative report. 

That same 12 months, at 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 convention recalled little about it besides to specific their opinion that it might “violate native church autonomy.”

Ultimately, a staffer for the SBC executive committee since 2007 had maintained a list of accused ministers and church staff, however it was kept hidden from the general public and even SBC govt committee trustees, in response to the report.

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

“Every entry on this listing reminds us of the devastation and destruction brought about by sexual abuse,” said a joint statement from Willie McLaurin and Rolland Slade, each SBC executive committee members. “Our prayer is that the survivors of those heinous acts find hope and healing, and that churches will make the most of this listing proactively to protect and care for probably the most weak amongst us.”

Lawyers for the SBC government committee researched the checklist of accused abusers, taking steps to verify info it contained. It left unredacted entries about alleged abusers that might be confirmed, while redacting entries where someone was acquitted or did not have a remaining disposition, as well as info that might determine victims.

Missouri males feature prominently on the record. They embrace:

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 information from Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, we invite you to follow us on Twitter.