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 other church personnel identified to be abusers.

The creation of an “Offender Data System” was one of the key recommendations in a report released Sunday by Guidepost Solutions, an unbiased firm contracted by the SBC’s Government Committee after delegates to last yr’s national assembly pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

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

“These recommendations shall be open to questions, debate and comments on the assembly ground,” stated SBC President Ed Litton.

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

The Guidepost report mentioned 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 within the EC.”

“Our investigation revealed that, for many years, just a few senior EC leaders, together with outdoors counsel, largely managed the EC’s response to those reviews of abuse ... and had been singularly centered on avoiding legal responsibility,” the report mentioned.

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 mentioned he was struck by repeated examples of a callous disregard for survivors, in addition to leaders prioritizing protection of the SBC from legal responsibility over abuse prevention.

“We’re at a fork in the highway,” Gaines stated. “I think this report supplied the knowledge that we would have liked for there to be a groundswell of help to take the suitable actions.”

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

“I feel that’s one of the first issues we must 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 urgent 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 remain about its implementation.

“What is absolutely essential is that the local church can't operate as the default or presumed starting place for a survivor to try to obtain an investigation of clergy sex abuse,” she mentioned through electronic mail. “If the native church is deemed to be a requisite first cease for survivors to pursue motion, then many survivors’ voices will likely be choked in their throats before sound is ever uttered.”

Among the many Guidepost report’s findings was that the Govt Committee saved a secret listing of hundreds of SBC-affiliated clergy and different personnel identified as intercourse abusers. Brown stated the committee, at a particular meeting Tuesday, ought to conform to release this listing.

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

The final decisions about suggestions to undergo the Anaheim delegates shall be made by the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Job Force, 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 noticed patterns and issues that have been deeply concerning,” he said. “Our predominant job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, and so they have carried out a really outstanding job in the last 9 months to take a look at events that occurred over 20 years.”

In the subsequent week or so, the duty force will convey forth formal motions in “precise language,” which will likely be made public and presented to the delegates in Anaheim for a vote, said Frank, lead pastor of Biltmore Baptist Church in Arden, North Carolina.

Frank said the crux of the task force’s suggestions based on Guidepost’s report will be summarized in two words – prevention and care.

“Our primary purpose ought to be preventing sexual abuse,” he stated. “And if abuse does occur, how do we care for survivors in a significantly better pastoral manner? How can we better talk to verify (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 look at what’s in that report and demand that things be higher,” Frank said. “SBC is a big family with 48,000 church buildings. There could be some disagreement on find out how to make things higher. But I’m assured that we’ll work by means of the difficulties.”

In addition to intercourse abuse, the agenda for the meeting in Anaheim consists of election of a new SBC president to succeed Litton.

One of the main contenders is Bart Barber, a pastor from Farmersville, Texas, who expressed dismay at the mean-spirited behaviors attributed to some SBC officials within the Guidepost report.

If elected, Barber said 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 done,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, however I feel all people within the survivor community that I’ve heard from has said studies are one thing, but we’ll see if this family of church buildings 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 a whole lot of circumstances in Southern Baptist churches, including a number of wherein alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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