Southern Baptists face push for public list of intercourse abusers

A blistering report on the Southern Baptist Convention’s mishandling of sex abuse allegations is elevating the prospect that the denomination, for the primary time, will create a publicly accessible database of pastors and other church personnel known 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 independent firm contracted by the SBC’s Executive Committee after delegates to final 12 months’s nationwide assembly pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is expected to be one of a number of recommendations offered to 1000's of delegates attending this yr’s nationwide meeting, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

“Those suggestions might be open to questions, debate and feedback on the meeting ground,” mentioned SBC President Ed Litton.

He expressed hope that the shocking findings within the Guidepost report will bring “lasting change” to the SBC, America’s largest Protestant denomination. It has been shedding membership steadily lately, whereas 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, “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 reports of abuse ... and were singularly focused on avoiding liability,” the report stated.

The movement for an impartial investigation was put ahead ultimately yr’s nationwide meeting 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, in addition to leaders prioritizing safety of the SBC from legal responsibility over abuse prevention.

“We’re at a fork in the street,” Gaines mentioned. “I think this report provided the data that we wanted for there to be a groundswell of support to take the fitting actions.”

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

“I believe 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 pressing the SBC since 2006 to create a publicly accessible database of identified abusers. She was heartened that Guidepost was recommending such a system, but stated questions remain about its implementation.

“What is totally important is that the native church can not perform as the default or presumed starting place for a survivor to try to get hold of an investigation of clergy intercourse abuse,” she mentioned through e-mail. “If the native church is deemed to be a requisite first cease for survivors to pursue action, then many survivors’ voices can be choked in their throats earlier than sound is ever uttered.”

Among the many Guidepost report’s findings was that the Government Committee saved a secret record of lots of of SBC-affiliated clergy and other personnel identified as sex abusers. Brown stated the committee, at a particular meeting Tuesday, ought to agree to launch this listing.

“I urge you to make public everything of your list of pastors & ministers accused of sexual abuse, in whatever kind 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 Task Drive, 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 saw patterns and things that were deeply concerning,” he mentioned. “Our essential job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, they usually have accomplished a truly exceptional job within the last 9 months to take a look at occasions that occurred over 20 years.”

Within the subsequent week or so, the duty pressure will bring forth formal motions in “precise language,” which will be made public and offered 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 duty pressure’s recommendations based on Guidepost’s report could be summarized in two words – prevention and care.

“Our predominant purpose must be preventing sexual abuse,” he said. “And if abuse does happen, how will we care for survivors in a significantly better pastoral approach? How can we higher talk to ensure (abusers) don’t go from one church to another?”

His hope is that this report serves as “a catalyst for change.”

“Any one that is fair-minded will have a look at what’s in that report and demand that issues be better,” Frank mentioned. “SBC is a big family with 48,000 churches. There is perhaps some disagreement on the best way to make things higher. But I’m confident that we’ll work by means of the difficulties.”

In addition to sex abuse, the agenda for the assembly in Anaheim contains election of a brand new SBC president to succeed Litton.

One of the leading contenders is Bart Barber, a pastor from Farmersville, Texas, who expressed dismay on the mean-spirited behaviors attributed to some SBC officers in 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 executed,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, but I believe everybody within the survivor neighborhood that I’ve heard from has stated reviews are one thing, however 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, together with a number of by which alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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