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

The Southern Baptist Conference on Thursday launched a once-secret and lengthy listing of accused intercourse abusers — several of whom are within the Midwest — inside the denomination.

The 205-page listing is a compilation of ministers and other church staff who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. The record is described as a “fluid, working document” that was additionally incomplete but largely pulls details about abusers from published news experiences.

The publication of the listing comes after the release Sunday of a 300-page report by an impartial investigator that described how leaders of the Southern Baptist denomination for many years have acquired experiences of sexual abuse dedicated by church employees, pastors and others. But those experiences had been largely kept secret and, reasonably than appearing upon and investigating reports of sexual abuse, denomination leaders sought to intimidate and vilify victims and their advocates.

“The whole thing must be seen for what it is,” wrote former Southern Baptist Conference govt committee member and general counsel D. August Boto in an inner email that was printed within the report. “It’s a satanic scheme to completely distract us from evangelism.”

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

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

Doyle was advised, “Southern Baptist leaders actually have no authority over local churches,” a response that Doyle thought to be dismissive, according to the investigative report. 

That very same year, on the SBC convention in San Antonio, Oklahoma pastor Wade Burleson made a motion 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, according to the report, and witnesses at the convention recalled little about it besides to express their opinion that it could “violate native church autonomy.”

In the end, a staffer for the SBC government committee since 2007 had maintained an inventory of accused ministers and church staff, but it surely was kept hidden from the general public and even SBC govt committee trustees, in accordance with the report.

Southern Baptist leaders said publicizing the checklist of credibly accused abusers represented “an preliminary, but essential, step in the direction of addressing the scourge of sexual abuse and implementing reform in the Conference.”

“Every entry in this list reminds us of the devastation and destruction led to by sexual abuse,” mentioned a joint assertion from Willie McLaurin and Rolland Slade, both SBC government committee members. “Our prayer is that the survivors of these heinous acts find hope and therapeutic, and that churches will utilize this record proactively to guard and take care of probably the most weak amongst us.”

Attorneys for the SBC govt committee researched the list of accused abusers, taking steps to verify information it contained. It left unredacted entries about alleged abusers that could possibly be confirmed, whereas redacting entries the place somebody was acquitted or didn't have a ultimate disposition, in addition to data that might identify victims.

Missouri males characteristic prominently on the checklist. They embody:

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