Southern Baptists face push for public record of intercourse abusers

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

The creation of an “Offender Data System” was one of the key recommendations in a report launched Sunday by Guidepost Options, an impartial firm contracted by the SBC’s Executive Committee after delegates to last year’s national assembly pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is anticipated to be one of a number of suggestions offered to thousands of delegates attending this 12 months’s national assembly, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

“Those recommendations can be open to questions, debate and comments on the meeting flooring,” mentioned SBC President Ed Litton.

He expressed hope that the stunning findings in the Guidepost report will deliver “lasting change” to the SBC, America’s largest Protestant denomination. It has been shedding membership steadily lately, whereas 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 throughout the EC.”

“Our investigation revealed that, for a few years, just a few senior EC leaders, together with outside counsel, largely controlled the EC’s response to those studies of abuse ... and had been singularly targeted on avoiding liability,” the report mentioned.

The motion for an unbiased investigation was put ahead at last year’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 legal responsibility over abuse prevention.

“We’re at a fork within the street,” Gaines mentioned. “I believe this report provided the information that we would have liked for there to be a groundswell of assist to take the suitable actions.”

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

“I believe that’s one of the 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 urgent the SBC since 2006 to create a publicly accessible database of identified abusers. She was heartened that Guidepost was recommending such a system, however stated 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 attempt to obtain an investigation of clergy intercourse abuse,” she stated via e mail. “If the local church is deemed to be a requisite first stop for survivors to pursue action, then many survivors’ voices will probably be choked in their throats earlier than sound is ever uttered.”

Among the Guidepost report’s findings was that the Govt Committee saved a secret record of hundreds of SBC-affiliated clergy and other personnel recognized as sex abusers. Brown stated the committee, at a particular assembly Tuesday, ought to agree to launch this checklist.

“I urge you to make public the whole thing of your list of pastors & ministers accused of sexual abuse, in whatever type it’s been saved for lo these a few years,” Brown tweeted. “Publish. It. Now.”

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

“We saw patterns and issues that had been deeply concerning,” he mentioned. “Our foremost job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, and so they have carried out a truly remarkable job in the last nine months to look at occasions that occurred over 20 years.”

Within the subsequent week or so, the duty pressure will carry forth formal motions in “precise language,” which will 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 stated the crux of the duty drive’s suggestions primarily based on Guidepost’s report could be summarized in two phrases – prevention and care.

“Our fundamental goal must be stopping sexual abuse,” he mentioned. “And if abuse does occur, how do we care for survivors in a significantly better pastoral means? How can we higher talk to ensure (abusers) don’t go from one church to a different?”

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

“Any one that is fair-minded will look at what’s in that report and demand that things be higher,” Frank mentioned. “SBC is a giant family with 48,000 churches. There may be some disagreement on the right way to make issues higher. But I’m confident that we’ll work by 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 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 wisdom to know what to do.... We’re sailing into uncharted waters.”

“The work’s not accomplished,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, however I think everyone in the survivor group that I’ve heard from has mentioned experiences are one thing, but we’ll see if this family of church buildings has the courage and resolve to take motion.”

The intercourse abuse scandal was thrust into the highlight in 2019 by a landmark report from the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Categorical-News documenting lots of of instances in Southern Baptist church buildings, together with several in which alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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