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

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

The 205-page record is a compilation of ministers and other church employees who've been credibly accused of sexual abuse. The listing is described as a “fluid, working document” that was additionally incomplete but largely pulls details about abusers from revealed information stories.

The publication of the record comes after the discharge Sunday of a 300-page report by an unbiased investigator that described how leaders of the Southern Baptist denomination for decades have acquired reviews of sexual abuse dedicated by church workers, pastors and others. But these studies have been largely saved secret and, quite than acting upon and investigating stories 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 executive committee member and basic counsel D. August Boto in an inner e-mail that was revealed within the report. “It’s a satanic scheme to completely distract us from evangelism.”

The disaster rocking the Southern Baptist denomination this week is comparable in many ways to what the Catholic church continues to face. Leaders in both faiths systematically hid details about sexual misconduct, appeared to show extra concern about their own legal legal responsibility than the victims and at times did not 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 own denomination’s clergy sex abuse disaster, wrote a letter to SBC leadership conveying his concern that Southern Baptist leaders have been repeating the failures of the Catholic church in coping with sex abuse.

Doyle was informed, “Southern Baptist leaders really don't have any authority over local church buildings,” a response that Doyle regarded as dismissive, in line with the investigative report. 

That same 12 months, on the SBC conference 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, based on the report, and witnesses on the conference recalled little about it besides to precise their opinion that it could “violate local church autonomy.”

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

Southern Baptist leaders stated publicizing the checklist of credibly accused abusers represented “an initial, however vital, step in the direction of addressing the scourge of sexual abuse and implementing reform in the Convention.”

“Each entry in this checklist reminds us of the devastation and destruction brought about by sexual abuse,” said a joint statement from Willie McLaurin and Rolland Slade, each SBC executive committee members. “Our prayer is that the survivors of those heinous acts discover hope and healing, and that church buildings will make the most of this checklist proactively to guard and look after probably the most vulnerable among us.”

Attorneys for the SBC govt committee researched the checklist of accused abusers, taking steps to confirm information it contained. It left unredacted entries about alleged abusers that might be confirmed, whereas redacting entries the place somebody was acquitted or didn't have a remaining disposition, as well as information that might establish victims.

Missouri males feature prominently on the record. They include:

This story comes from the Midwest Newsroom, an investigative journalism collaboration including 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 follow us on Twitter.