Eight Missouri ministers accused of sex abuse in Southern Baptist Convention report • Missouri Independent

The Southern Baptist Conference on Thursday released a once-secret and lengthy record of accused sex abusers — several of whom are in the Midwest — within the denomination.

The 205-page listing is a compilation of ministers and different church staff who've been credibly accused of sexual abuse. The listing is described as a “fluid, working doc” that was additionally incomplete however largely pulls information about abusers from printed information reports.

The publication of the listing comes after the release Sunday of a 300-page report by an independent investigator that described how leaders of the Southern Baptist denomination for decades have acquired studies of sexual abuse committed by church staff, pastors and others. But these stories have been largely stored secret and, fairly than performing upon and investigating experiences of sexual abuse, denomination leaders sought to intimidate and vilify victims and their advocates.

“The whole thing must be seen for what it's,” wrote former Southern Baptist Conference govt committee member and basic counsel D. August Boto in an internal e mail that was revealed in the report. “It’s a satanic scheme to fully distract us from evangelism.”

The crisis rocking the Southern Baptist denomination this week is comparable in some ways to what the Catholic church continues to face. Leaders in both faiths systematically hid information about sexual misconduct, appeared to indicate more concern about their very own authorized liability than the victims and at times didn't expel accused abusers from positions of authority.

In 2007, Father Thomas Doyle, a Catholic priest credited as one of the first to warn of his personal denomination’s clergy intercourse abuse crisis, wrote a letter to SBC leadership conveying his concern that Southern Baptist leaders were repeating the failures of the Catholic church in dealing with intercourse abuse.

Doyle was instructed, “Southern Baptist leaders actually haven't any authority over native church buildings,” a response that Doyle considered dismissive, in keeping with the investigative report. 

That very same yr, on the SBC conference in San Antonio, Oklahoma pastor Wade Burleson made a movement to create a database of Southern Baptist clergy who had been convicted or credibly accused of, or had confessed to sexual abuse. The proposal was meant to “assist in preventing any future sexual abuse or harassment.”

The database proposal appeared to go nowhere, based on the report, and witnesses at the convention recalled little about it besides to precise their opinion that it will “violate local church autonomy.”

In the end, a staffer for the SBC executive committee since 2007 had maintained an inventory of accused ministers and church workers, however it was stored hidden from the general public and even SBC govt committee trustees, in line with the report.

Southern Baptist leaders stated publicizing the listing of credibly accused abusers represented “an initial, but essential, step towards addressing the scourge of sexual abuse and implementing reform in the Conference.”

“Each entry in this listing reminds us of the devastation and destruction led to by sexual abuse,” mentioned a joint statement from Willie McLaurin and Rolland Slade, both SBC government committee members. “Our prayer is that the survivors of these heinous acts discover hope and therapeutic, and that churches will utilize this checklist proactively to guard and take care of the most vulnerable among us.”

Legal professionals for the SBC govt committee researched the record of accused abusers, taking steps to confirm information it contained. It left unredacted entries about alleged abusers that could possibly be confirmed, while redacting entries where someone was acquitted or did not have a final disposition, in addition to info that might identify victims.

Missouri males feature prominently on the checklist. They embody:

This story comes from the Midwest Newsroom, an investigative journalism collaboration together with IPR, KCUR 89.3, Nebraska Public Media News, St. Louis Public Radio and NPR. For extra in-depth information from Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, we invite you to comply with us on Twitter.