Southern Baptists face push for public list of intercourse abusers

A blistering report on the Southern Baptist Conference’s mishandling of intercourse 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 known to be abusers.

The creation of an “Offender Data System” was one of many key recommendations in a report launched Sunday by Guidepost Options, an unbiased firm contracted by the SBC’s Govt Committee after delegates to last yr’s nationwide meeting pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is anticipated to be one in all a number of recommendations presented to hundreds of delegates attending this yr’s nationwide meeting, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

“Those suggestions will be open to questions, debate and feedback on the assembly floor,” stated SBC President Ed Litton.

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

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

“Our investigation revealed that, for many years, a couple of senior EC leaders, along with outdoors counsel, largely managed the EC’s response to these reports of abuse ... and have been singularly focused on avoiding liability,” the report said.

The movement for an independent investigation was put forward at last year’s national assembly by the Rev. Grant Gaines, senior pastor of Belle Aire Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Studying the Guidepost report, Gaines stated he was struck by repeated examples of a callous disregard for survivors, in addition to leaders prioritizing safety of the SBC from liability over abuse prevention.

“We’re at a fork in the highway,” Gaines mentioned. “I think this report provided the data that we would have liked for there to be a groundswell of assist to take the best actions.”

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

“I think that’s one of the first things we should do,” he mentioned.

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, but stated questions stay about its implementation.

“What is absolutely crucial is that the native church can't perform as the default or presumed beginning place for a survivor to try to get hold of an investigation of clergy intercourse abuse,” she stated via e mail. “If the local church is deemed to be a requisite first cease for survivors to pursue motion, then many survivors’ voices will probably be choked of their throats before sound is ever uttered.”

Among the many Guidepost report’s findings was that the Government Committee stored a secret listing of hundreds of SBC-affiliated clergy and other personnel recognized as sex abusers. Brown said the committee, at a special assembly Tuesday, should comply with launch this list.

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

The ultimate decisions about recommendations to submit to the Anaheim delegates might be made by the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Activity Power, comprising seven members and two advisors. Its work over the past 12 months has been an emotional journey, stated Pastor Bruce Frank, who led the group.

“We saw patterns and issues that have been deeply concerning,” he mentioned. “Our most important job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, they usually have carried out a really remarkable job in the last 9 months to have a look at occasions that occurred over 20 years.”

Within the subsequent week or so, the duty power will carry forth formal motions in “exact language,” which might 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 said the crux of the task power’s suggestions based mostly on Guidepost’s report may be summarized in two words – prevention and care.

“Our major aim should be preventing sexual abuse,” he said. “And if abuse does happen, how will we look after survivors in a significantly better pastoral way? How can we better talk to ensure (abusers) don’t go from one church to another?”

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

“Any person who is fair-minded will take a look at what’s in that report and demand that issues be better,” Frank stated. “SBC is an enormous household with 48,000 church buildings. There is likely to be some disagreement on the way to make things higher. But I’m assured that we’ll work by way of the difficulties.”

In addition to sex abuse, the agenda for the assembly in Anaheim contains election of a new SBC president to succeed Litton.

One of many main 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 crusing into uncharted waters.”

“The work’s not finished,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, but I think all people within the survivor neighborhood that I’ve heard from has stated studies are one factor, but we’ll see if this family of churches has the courage and resolve to take action.”

The intercourse abuse scandal was thrust into the highlight in 2019 by a landmark report from the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Specific-Information documenting lots of of cases in Southern Baptist churches, including a number of by which alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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