Southern Baptists face push for public listing of intercourse abusers

A blistering report on the Southern Baptist Convention’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 recognized to be abusers.

The creation of an “Offender Info System” was one of many key recommendations in a report launched Sunday by Guidepost Options, an unbiased agency contracted by the SBC’s Executive Committee after delegates to final 12 months’s nationwide meeting pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is expected to be considered one of several suggestions offered to thousands of delegates attending this yr’s nationwide meeting, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

“These suggestions shall be open to questions, debate and feedback on the assembly ground,” said SBC President Ed Litton.

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

The Guidepost report mentioned survivors of abuse by SBC clergy repeatedly shared allegations with the Govt Committee, “solely 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, a few senior EC leaders, along with outdoors counsel, largely controlled the EC’s response to those reviews of abuse ... and had been singularly focused on avoiding liability,” the report said.

The motion for an impartial investigation was put ahead at last 12 months’s nationwide assembly by the Rev. Grant Gaines, senior pastor of Belle Aire Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Studying the Guidepost report, Gaines said 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 in the street,” Gaines said. “I feel this report provided the information that we needed for there to be a groundswell of support to take the appropriate actions.”

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

“I feel that’s one of many first issues we should 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 recognized abusers. She was heartened that Guidepost was recommending such a system, however mentioned questions remain about its implementation.

“What is absolutely important is that the native church cannot function because the default or presumed beginning place for a survivor to attempt to obtain an investigation of clergy sex abuse,” she mentioned by way of email. “If the native church is deemed to be a requisite first cease for survivors to pursue action, then many survivors’ voices will be choked of their throats earlier than sound is ever uttered.”

Among the many Guidepost report’s findings was that the Government Committee kept a secret record of a whole bunch of SBC-affiliated clergy and different personnel recognized as sex abusers. Brown said the committee, at a special assembly Tuesday, ought to agree to launch this listing.

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

The ultimate choices about suggestions to undergo the Anaheim delegates shall be made by the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Activity Force, comprising seven members and two advisors. Its work over the past year has been an emotional journey, stated Pastor Bruce Frank, who led the group.

“We saw patterns and issues that were deeply regarding,” he mentioned. “Our main job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, and so they have carried out a truly outstanding job within the final 9 months to have a look at events that occurred over 20 years.”

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

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

“Our essential purpose ought to be preventing sexual abuse,” he mentioned. “And if abuse does happen, how do we care for survivors in a a lot better pastoral way? How can we better communicate 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 one who is fair-minded will take a look at what’s in that report and demand that things be higher,” Frank said. “SBC is a big family with 48,000 churches. There might be some disagreement on how one can make issues higher. But I’m assured that we’ll work via the difficulties.”

In addition to intercourse abuse, the agenda for the meeting in Anaheim includes 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 on the mean-spirited behaviors attributed to some SBC officers 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 finished,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, however I feel everyone within the survivor group that I’ve heard from has stated experiences are one thing, however we’ll see if this household of churches has the courage 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 Categorical-Information documenting lots of of instances in Southern Baptist church buildings, including several through which alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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