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Southern Baptists face push for public checklist of sex abusers


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Southern Baptists face push for public record of sex abusers
2022-05-25 01:01:17
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A blistering report on the Southern Baptist Conference’s mishandling of sex abuse allegations is elevating 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 Information System” was one of the key recommendations in a report launched Sunday by Guidepost Options, an independent firm contracted by the SBC’s Government Committee after delegates to last 12 months’s nationwide assembly pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is expected to be one of several recommendations offered to hundreds of delegates attending this year’s nationwide assembly, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

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

He expressed hope that the stunning findings in the Guidepost report will bring “lasting change” to the SBC, America’s largest Protestant denomination. It has been shedding membership steadily lately, while 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 Govt Committee, “only to be met, time and time once more, 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 these reviews of abuse ... and were singularly focused on avoiding liability,” the report stated.

The movement for an independent investigation was put forward eventually 12 months’s national 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, in addition to leaders prioritizing safety of the SBC from legal responsibility over abuse prevention.

“We’re at a fork within the road,” Gaines mentioned. “I believe this report offered the information that we needed for there to be a groundswell of assist to take the appropriate actions.”

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

“I think that’s one of many first issues we must always do,” he stated.

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 recognized abusers. She was heartened that Guidepost was recommending such a system, but stated questions stay about its implementation.

“What is absolutely essential is that the native church cannot function as the default or presumed starting place for a survivor to attempt to acquire an investigation of clergy sex abuse,” she stated by way of email. “If the native church is deemed to be a requisite first stop for survivors to pursue action, then many survivors’ voices shall be choked in their throats earlier than sound is ever uttered.”

Among the Guidepost report’s findings was that the Executive Committee kept a secret checklist of a whole lot of SBC-affiliated clergy and different personnel recognized as sex abusers. Brown mentioned the committee, at a particular meeting Tuesday, should conform to release this listing.

“I urge you to make public the whole thing of your record of pastors & ministers accused of sexual abuse, in whatever form it’s been stored for lo these many years,” Brown tweeted. “Post. It. Now.”

The final choices about suggestions to submit to the Anaheim delegates will probably be made by the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Activity Power, 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 concerning,” he stated. “Our predominant job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, and so they have carried out a truly outstanding job in the last 9 months to take a look at events that occurred over 20 years.”

Within the next week or so, the task power will deliver forth formal motions in “precise 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 duty pressure’s suggestions based on Guidepost’s report may be summarized in two words – prevention and care.

“Our most important aim must be preventing sexual abuse,” he stated. “And if abuse does occur, how can we take care of survivors in a a lot better pastoral method? How can we better communicate to make sure (abusers) don’t go from one church to a different?”

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 things be better,” Frank mentioned. “SBC is a giant family with 48,000 churches. There could be some disagreement on how to make issues better. However I’m assured that we’ll work by way of the difficulties.”

Along with sex abuse, the agenda for the assembly in Anaheim consists of election of a new SBC president to succeed Litton.

One of many leading contenders is Bart Barber, a pastor from Farmersville, Texas, who expressed dismay at the mean-spirited behaviors attributed to some SBC officers within 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 crusing into uncharted waters.”

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

The sex abuse scandal was thrust into the highlight in 2019 by a landmark report from the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Specific-News documenting hundreds of circumstances in Southern Baptist churches, including several wherein alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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Associated Press religion protection receives assist by the AP’s collaboration with The Dialog US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely chargeable for this content material.


Quelle: apnews.com

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