Southern Baptists face push for public list of sex abusers

A blistering report on the Southern Baptist Conference’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 known to be abusers.

The creation of an “Offender Data System” was one of many key recommendations in a report released Sunday by Guidepost Solutions, an independent firm contracted by the SBC’s Government Committee after delegates to last 12 months’s nationwide meeting pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is predicted to be one among several suggestions offered to hundreds of delegates attending this year’s national assembly, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

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

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

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

“Our investigation revealed that, for many years, a couple of senior EC leaders, along with exterior counsel, largely controlled the EC’s response to these stories of abuse ... and have been singularly targeted on avoiding legal responsibility,” the report stated.

The movement for an independent investigation was put forward ultimately 12 months’s national assembly 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 protection of the SBC from liability over abuse prevention.

“We’re at a fork within the road,” Gaines mentioned. “I feel this report supplied the information that we wanted for there to be a groundswell of support to take the appropriate actions.”

Specifically, Gaines said he helps the proposal to create a system that alerts communities to identified offenders.

“I think that’s one of many first things we should 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 identified abusers. She was heartened that Guidepost was recommending such a system, but mentioned questions stay about its implementation.

“What is absolutely important is that the native church cannot function as the default or presumed starting place for a survivor to attempt to receive an investigation of clergy intercourse abuse,” she said via electronic mail. “If the local church is deemed to be a requisite first cease for survivors to pursue motion, then many survivors’ voices shall be choked in their throats earlier than sound is ever uttered.”

Among the Guidepost report’s findings was that the Govt Committee kept a secret checklist of hundreds of SBC-affiliated clergy and other personnel recognized as sex abusers. Brown mentioned the committee, at a special meeting Tuesday, ought to comply with release this record.

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

The final decisions about recommendations to submit to the Anaheim delegates might be made by the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Process Drive, 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 issues that were deeply concerning,” he said. “Our major job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, and they have carried out a really remarkable job within the final nine months to take a look at events that occurred over 20 years.”

In the next week or so, the duty force will deliver forth formal motions in “precise language,” which can be made public and introduced 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 primarily based on Guidepost’s report may be summarized in two words – prevention and care.

“Our predominant aim needs to be preventing sexual abuse,” he stated. “And if abuse does occur, how will we look after survivors in a much better pastoral manner? How can we higher talk to verify (abusers) don’t go from one church to a different?”

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

“Any person who is fair-minded will look at what’s in that report and demand that issues be higher,” Frank said. “SBC is a giant household with 48,000 church buildings. There may be some disagreement on the right way to make things better. However I’m assured that we’ll work via the difficulties.”

Along with sex abuse, the agenda for the assembly in Anaheim contains election of a 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 in the Guidepost report.

If elected, Barber mentioned in a broadcast interview Monday, “I’m praying that God will give me the knowledge 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 believe everyone in the survivor group that I’ve heard from has mentioned experiences are one thing, however we’ll see if this family of church buildings has the braveness and resolve to take action.”

The intercourse abuse scandal was thrust into the spotlight in 2019 by a landmark report from the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-Information documenting hundreds of circumstances in Southern Baptist churches, together with several wherein alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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