Southern Baptists face push for public list of sex abusers

A blistering report on the Southern Baptist Convention’s mishandling of intercourse abuse allegations is elevating the prospect that the denomination, for the first time, will create a publicly accessible database of pastors and different church personnel recognized to be abusers.

The creation of an “Offender Information System” was one of the key suggestions in a report released Sunday by Guidepost Solutions, an unbiased agency contracted by the SBC’s Government Committee after delegates to final 12 months’s national meeting pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is anticipated to be one in all several recommendations presented to thousands of delegates attending this 12 months’s national assembly, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

“These suggestions shall be open to questions, debate and feedback on the meeting flooring,” mentioned 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, 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 Government 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 a few years, a few senior EC leaders, together with exterior counsel, largely controlled the EC’s response to these reports of abuse ... and have been singularly targeted on avoiding liability,” the report mentioned.

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

Reading 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 legal responsibility over abuse prevention.

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

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

“I believe that’s one of many first issues we should always do,” he said.

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

“What is absolutely important is that the native church can not operate 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 email. “If the local church is deemed to be a requisite first cease for survivors to pursue action, then many survivors’ voices will likely be choked of their throats before sound is ever uttered.”

Among the Guidepost report’s findings was that the Govt Committee stored a secret list of lots of of SBC-affiliated clergy and different personnel recognized as sex abusers. Brown mentioned the committee, at a special meeting Tuesday, should comply with launch this checklist.

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

The final selections about recommendations to undergo the Anaheim delegates will likely be made by the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Task Pressure, 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 had been deeply concerning,” he said. “Our foremost job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, and they have carried out a truly remarkable job in the last nine months to look at events that occurred over 20 years.”

Within the subsequent week or so, the duty force will convey forth formal motions in “exact language,” which will likely be made public and introduced 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 task pressure’s recommendations based mostly on Guidepost’s report could be summarized in two words – prevention and care.

“Our important objective needs to be preventing sexual abuse,” he mentioned. “And if abuse does happen, how will we take care of survivors in a a lot better pastoral approach? How can we higher communicate to ensure (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 look at what’s in that report and demand that issues be better,” Frank said. “SBC is a giant household with 48,000 churches. There could be some disagreement on the best way to make things higher. However I’m confident that we’ll work through the difficulties.”

In addition to intercourse abuse, the agenda for the assembly in Anaheim includes 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 on the mean-spirited behaviors attributed to some SBC officials in 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 accomplished,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, however I feel everybody within the survivor community that I’ve heard from has stated stories are one factor, however we’ll see if this family of church buildings has the courage and resolve to take action.”

The sex abuse scandal was thrust into the spotlight in 2019 by a landmark report from the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Specific-Information documenting lots of of instances in Southern Baptist church buildings, together with a number of during which alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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