Southern Baptists face push for public checklist 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 other church personnel recognized to be abusers.

The creation of an “Offender Info System” was one of the key suggestions in a report launched Sunday by Guidepost Solutions, an independent agency contracted by the SBC’s Executive Committee after delegates to last year’s national meeting pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is anticipated to be considered one of several suggestions introduced to thousands of delegates attending this year’s national meeting, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

“These suggestions will probably be open to questions, debate and comments on the meeting ground,” stated SBC President Ed Litton.

He expressed hope that the shocking 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 years, 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, “only to be met, time and time once more, with resistance, stonewalling, and even outright hostility from some inside the EC.”

“Our investigation revealed that, for many years, a number of senior EC leaders, together with outdoors counsel, largely controlled the EC’s response to those experiences of abuse ... and had been singularly targeted on avoiding liability,” the report said.

The movement for an unbiased investigation was put forward 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 stated he was struck by repeated examples of a callous disregard for survivors, as well as leaders prioritizing safety of the SBC from liability over abuse prevention.

“We’re at a fork within the street,” Gaines said. “I feel this report offered the knowledge that we needed for there to be a groundswell of support to take the suitable actions.”

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

“I believe that’s one of the 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 known abusers. She was heartened that Guidepost was recommending such a system, however said questions remain about its implementation.

“What is completely essential is that the native church can not perform because the default or presumed starting place for a survivor to try to obtain an investigation of clergy intercourse abuse,” she said via e mail. “If the native church is deemed to be a requisite first stop for survivors to pursue motion, then many survivors’ voices will probably be choked of their throats earlier than sound is ever uttered.”

Among the Guidepost report’s findings was that the Government Committee stored a secret list of hundreds of SBC-affiliated clergy and other personnel recognized as intercourse abusers. Brown mentioned the committee, at a special assembly Tuesday, should conform to release this listing.

“I urge you to make public the whole lot of your checklist of pastors & ministers accused of sexual abuse, in whatever form it’s been kept for lo these a few years,” Brown tweeted. “Submit. It. Now.”

The ultimate selections about suggestions to submit to the Anaheim delegates shall be made by the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Process Pressure, 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 things that had been deeply regarding,” he stated. “Our essential job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, and they have executed a very outstanding job within the final nine months to have a look at occasions that occurred over 20 years.”

In the subsequent week or so, the task force will convey forth formal motions in “exact language,” which will likely 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 based mostly on Guidepost’s report can be summarized in two words – prevention and care.

“Our primary aim should be stopping sexual abuse,” he said. “And if abuse does occur, how do we look after survivors in a significantly better pastoral approach? How can we better communicate to make sure (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 a giant household with 48,000 churches. There is likely to be some disagreement on find out how to make things higher. However I’m confident that we’ll work by the difficulties.”

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

If elected, Barber said in a broadcast interview Monday, “I’m praying that God will give me the knowledge to know what to do.... We’re crusing into uncharted waters.”

“The work’s not performed,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, but I feel everybody in the survivor neighborhood that I’ve heard from has stated stories are one thing, but we’ll see if this household of church buildings has the braveness 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-Information documenting hundreds of circumstances in Southern Baptist churches, including a number of by which alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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