Southern Baptists face push for public checklist of intercourse abusers

A blistering report on the Southern Baptist Conference’s mishandling of sex abuse allegations is raising 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 Information System” was one of the key suggestions in a report released Sunday by Guidepost Options, an independent agency contracted by the SBC’s Govt Committee after delegates to final yr’s nationwide assembly pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

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

“These suggestions will probably be open to questions, debate and comments on the meeting floor,” mentioned SBC President Ed Litton.

He expressed hope that the stunning findings in the Guidepost report will deliver “lasting change” to the SBC, America’s largest Protestant denomination. It has been dropping membership steadily lately, whereas being wracked by internal divisions over race and gender roles.

The Guidepost report mentioned survivors of abuse by SBC clergy repeatedly shared allegations with the Government Committee, “solely 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 many years, just a few senior EC leaders, along with exterior counsel, largely controlled the EC’s response to those stories of abuse ... and were singularly targeted on avoiding legal responsibility,” the report mentioned.

The motion for an unbiased investigation was put ahead finally 12 months’s nationwide meeting 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, in addition to leaders prioritizing safety of the SBC from liability over abuse prevention.

“We’re at a fork within the street,” Gaines said. “I feel this report provided the data that we would have liked for there to be a groundswell of support to take the correct actions.”

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

“I feel that’s one of the first things we must always do,” he stated.

Lawyer and author 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 recognized abusers. She was heartened that Guidepost was recommending such a system, but said questions remain about its implementation.

“What is absolutely important is that the native church cannot function as the default or presumed starting place for a survivor to try to obtain an investigation of clergy sex abuse,” she stated by way of e-mail. “If the local church is deemed to be a requisite first cease for survivors to pursue action, then many survivors’ voices can be choked in their throats before sound is ever uttered.”

Among the many Guidepost report’s findings was that the Govt Committee kept a secret listing of hundreds of SBC-affiliated clergy and different personnel recognized as intercourse abusers. Brown stated the committee, at a particular meeting Tuesday, ought to conform to release this record.

“I urge you to make public everything of your checklist of pastors & ministers accused of sexual abuse, in no matter form it’s been saved for lo these a few years,” Brown tweeted. “Put up. It. Now.”

The ultimate decisions about recommendations to undergo 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 past yr has been an emotional journey, stated Pastor Bruce Frank, who led the group.

“We saw patterns and issues that were deeply concerning,” he mentioned. “Our predominant job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, and so they have carried out a really remarkable job within the last 9 months to look at occasions that occurred over 20 years.”

In the subsequent week or so, the task drive will bring forth formal motions in “precise language,” which will probably be made public and offered to the delegates in Anaheim for a vote, stated Frank, lead pastor of Biltmore Baptist Church in Arden, North Carolina.

Frank said the crux of the task drive’s suggestions based on Guidepost’s report may be summarized in two words – prevention and care.

“Our predominant objective ought to be preventing sexual abuse,” he mentioned. “And if abuse does happen, how can we care for survivors in a much better pastoral way? How can we higher 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 look at what’s in that report and demand that things be higher,” Frank said. “SBC is a big household with 48,000 churches. There could be some disagreement on learn how to make things better. However I’m assured that we’ll work by means of the difficulties.”

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

One of many main 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 performed,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, however I believe everybody within the survivor community that I’ve heard from has said stories are one factor, however we’ll see if this household of churches 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-Information documenting a whole lot of circumstances in Southern Baptist church buildings, including a number of during which alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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