Southern Baptists face push for public record of sex abusers

A blistering report on the Southern Baptist Convention’s mishandling of sex abuse allegations is raising the prospect that the denomination, for the first 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 many key suggestions in a report released Sunday by Guidepost Solutions, an impartial agency contracted by the SBC’s Executive Committee after delegates to final yr’s nationwide meeting pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is predicted to be certainly one of a number of suggestions introduced to hundreds of delegates attending this 12 months’s nationwide meeting, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

“These suggestions can be open to questions, debate and comments on the assembly ground,” stated SBC President Ed Litton.

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

The Guidepost report stated 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 these experiences of abuse ... and were singularly targeted on avoiding liability,” the report stated.

The motion for an unbiased investigation was put forward ultimately yr’s national meeting by the Rev. Grant Gaines, senior pastor of Belle Aire Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Studying the Guidepost report, Gaines stated 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 highway,” Gaines said. “I believe this report supplied the knowledge that we would have liked for there to be a groundswell of support to take the best actions.”

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

“I think that’s one of many first issues we should 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 mentioned questions remain about its implementation.

“What is completely critical is that the local church can not function because the default or presumed starting place for a survivor to try to get hold of an investigation of clergy sex abuse,” she stated by way of electronic mail. “If the native church is deemed to be a requisite first cease for survivors to pursue motion, then many survivors’ voices will be choked in their throats earlier than sound is ever uttered.”

Among the Guidepost report’s findings was that the Government Committee saved a secret checklist of hundreds of SBC-affiliated clergy and other personnel recognized as intercourse abusers. Brown mentioned the committee, at a special meeting Tuesday, ought to agree to release this record.

“I urge you to make public the whole thing of your record of pastors & ministers accused of sexual abuse, in no matter kind it’s been saved for lo these many years,” Brown tweeted. “Publish. It. Now.”

The final selections about suggestions to undergo the Anaheim delegates shall be made by the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Job Pressure, 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 things that have been deeply concerning,” he said. “Our fundamental job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, they usually have accomplished a very exceptional job in the final 9 months to have a look at occasions that occurred over 20 years.”

Within the next week or so, the task force will convey forth formal motions in “precise language,” which will probably be made public and introduced to the delegates in Anaheim for a vote, stated Frank, lead pastor of Biltmore Baptist Church in Arden, North Carolina.

Frank mentioned the crux of the task pressure’s recommendations based on Guidepost’s report may be summarized in two words – prevention and care.

“Our important purpose ought to be stopping sexual abuse,” he said. “And if abuse does happen, how do we take care of survivors in a a lot better pastoral way? How can we better talk to verify (abusers) don’t go from one church to another?”

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

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

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

One of the main 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 sailing into uncharted waters.”

“The work’s not executed,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, but I think all people within the survivor community that I’ve heard from has said experiences are one factor, however we’ll see if this household of church buildings has the courage and resolve to take action.”

The sex abuse scandal was thrust into the spotlight in 2019 by a landmark report from the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-Information documenting lots of of instances in Southern Baptist churches, together with a number of wherein alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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