Southern Baptists face push for public record of sex abusers

A blistering report on the Southern Baptist Conference’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 different church personnel known to be abusers.

The creation of an “Offender Information System” was one of the key suggestions in a report launched Sunday by Guidepost Solutions, an independent agency contracted by the SBC’s Executive Committee after delegates to final yr’s national assembly pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is predicted to be one of several suggestions offered to 1000's of delegates attending this 12 months’s national assembly, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

“These suggestions might be open to questions, debate and feedback on the meeting floor,” stated SBC President Ed Litton.

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

The Guidepost report mentioned survivors of abuse by SBC clergy repeatedly shared allegations with the Govt Committee, “solely to be met, time and time again, with resistance, stonewalling, and even outright hostility from some within the EC.”

“Our investigation revealed that, for a few years, a couple of senior EC leaders, along with outside counsel, largely controlled the EC’s response to those studies of abuse ... and have been singularly centered on avoiding liability,” the report stated.

The movement for an independent investigation was put ahead eventually 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, as well as leaders prioritizing protection of the SBC from legal responsibility over abuse prevention.

“We’re at a fork within the road,” Gaines mentioned. “I feel this report supplied the knowledge that we wanted for there to be a groundswell of help to take the correct actions.”

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

“I believe that’s one of the first issues we should do,” he said.

Lawyer and author Christa Brown, who says she was sexually abused as a teen by the youth minister at her SBC church, has been urgent the SBC since 2006 to create a publicly accessible database of recognized abusers. She was heartened that Guidepost was recommending such a system, however mentioned questions stay about its implementation.

“What is completely critical is that the local church cannot operate as the default or presumed beginning place for a survivor to try to get hold of an investigation of clergy intercourse abuse,” she mentioned via e mail. “If the native church is deemed to be a requisite first cease for survivors to pursue action, then many survivors’ voices will be choked in their throats earlier than sound is ever uttered.”

Among the many Guidepost report’s findings was that the Govt Committee stored a secret listing of tons of of SBC-affiliated clergy and other personnel recognized as intercourse abusers. Brown stated the committee, at a special assembly Tuesday, should comply with launch this list.

“I urge you to make public the whole thing of your record of pastors & ministers accused of sexual abuse, in whatever type it’s been stored for lo these a few years,” Brown tweeted. “Submit. It. Now.”

The ultimate decisions about suggestions to submit to the Anaheim delegates might be made by the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Process Power, comprising seven members and two advisors. Its work over the previous yr has been an emotional journey, stated Pastor Bruce Frank, who led the group.

“We saw patterns and things that have been deeply regarding,” he stated. “Our principal job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, and so they have accomplished a very outstanding job in the final 9 months to look at events that occurred over 20 years.”

In the next week or so, the duty force will convey forth formal motions in “precise language,” which will likely be made public and presented to the delegates in Anaheim for a vote, mentioned Frank, lead pastor of Biltmore Baptist Church in Arden, North Carolina.

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

“Our principal objective needs to be preventing sexual abuse,” he stated. “And if abuse does happen, how will we look after survivors in a a lot better pastoral method? How can we better 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 person who is fair-minded will look at what’s in that report and demand that issues be higher,” Frank stated. “SBC is a giant family with 48,000 church buildings. There is likely to be some disagreement on easy methods to make things better. But I’m assured that we’ll work by way of the difficulties.”

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

One of many leading contenders is Bart Barber, a pastor from Farmersville, Texas, who expressed dismay on the mean-spirited behaviors attributed to some SBC officers within the Guidepost report.

If elected, Barber stated in a broadcast interview Monday, “I’m praying that God will give me the knowledge to know what to do.... We’re sailing into uncharted waters.”

“The work’s not performed,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, but I feel everybody within the survivor community that I’ve heard from has mentioned reviews are one factor, however we’ll see if this family of church buildings has the braveness and resolve to take motion.”

The intercourse abuse scandal was thrust into the spotlight in 2019 by a landmark report from the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Categorical-News documenting lots of of circumstances in Southern Baptist churches, together with several through which alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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