Southern Baptists face push for public list of sex abusers

A blistering report on the Southern Baptist Convention’s mishandling of sex abuse allegations is elevating the prospect that the denomination, for the first time, will create a publicly accessible database of pastors and other church personnel known to be abusers.

The creation of an “Offender Information System” was one of many key suggestions in a report launched Sunday by Guidepost Solutions, an impartial agency contracted by the SBC’s Govt Committee after delegates to last 12 months’s nationwide assembly pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is predicted to be one in all a number of suggestions presented to 1000's of delegates attending this 12 months’s nationwide meeting, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

“These suggestions might be open to questions, debate and feedback on the assembly ground,” stated SBC President Ed Litton.

He expressed hope that the stunning findings in the Guidepost report will bring “lasting change” to the SBC, America’s largest Protestant denomination. It has been shedding membership steadily lately, while being wracked by inner divisions over race and gender roles.

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

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

The motion for an unbiased investigation was put ahead eventually yr’s nationwide meeting by the Rev. Grant Gaines, senior pastor of Belle Aire Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Studying the Guidepost report, Gaines said he was struck by repeated examples of a callous disregard for survivors, as well as leaders prioritizing protection of the SBC from legal responsibility over abuse prevention.

“We’re at a fork in the street,” Gaines said. “I feel this report supplied the data that we needed for there to be a groundswell of support to take the precise actions.”

Particularly, Gaines said he supports the proposal to create a system that alerts communities to known offenders.

“I feel that’s one of many first issues we should do,” he said.

Lawyer and writer 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 said questions remain about its implementation.

“What is absolutely important is that the native church can not function because the default or presumed starting place for a survivor to try to get hold of an investigation of clergy sex abuse,” she said through e-mail. “If the native church is deemed to be a requisite first stop for survivors to pursue motion, then many survivors’ voices will likely be choked of their throats earlier than sound is ever uttered.”

Among the many Guidepost report’s findings was that the Govt Committee saved a secret list of a whole bunch of SBC-affiliated clergy and different personnel identified as sex abusers. Brown stated the committee, at a particular meeting Tuesday, should agree to launch this checklist.

“I urge you to make public the whole thing of your checklist of pastors & ministers accused of sexual abuse, in no matter type it’s been stored for lo these a few years,” Brown tweeted. “Post. It. Now.”

The ultimate selections about recommendations to undergo the Anaheim delegates shall be made by the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Task Power, comprising seven members and two advisors. Its work over the past year has been an emotional journey, said Pastor Bruce Frank, who led the group.

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

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

Frank mentioned the crux of the task power’s suggestions based mostly on Guidepost’s report may be summarized in two phrases – prevention and care.

“Our major goal should be preventing sexual abuse,” he stated. “And if abuse does occur, how can we take care of survivors in a significantly better pastoral method? How can we better communicate to make sure (abusers) don’t go from one church to a different?”

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 higher,” Frank stated. “SBC is a big family with 48,000 churches. There could be some disagreement on make things higher. However I’m confident that we’ll work by way of the difficulties.”

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

One of the leading contenders is Bart Barber, a pastor from Farmersville, Texas, who expressed dismay on the mean-spirited behaviors attributed to some SBC officers within 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 sailing into uncharted waters.”

“The work’s not finished,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, however I think all people within the survivor group that I’ve heard from has said experiences are one thing, but we’ll see if this household of church buildings has the braveness and resolve to take action.”

The sex abuse scandal was thrust into the spotlight in 2019 by a landmark report from the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Categorical-Information documenting tons of of circumstances in Southern Baptist churches, including a number of by which alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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