Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Southern Baptist Lights Hells Fire Under Itself

National leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention suppressed reports of sexual abuse and resisted proposals for reform over two decades, according to a third-party investigation published by the convention Sunday. The report also said that a former president of the denomination was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2010, a claim the report described as “credible.”

Sexual abuse allegations, and the church’s handling of them, have roiled the convention for years. After mounting pressure from survivors of sexual abuse in Southern Baptist settings, delegates at the denomination’s annual meeting last summer voted overwhelmingly to commission the report, and demanded that its 86-member executive committee hand over confidential documents in cooperation. The report covers abuse reports from women and children against male pastors, church employees and officials from the year 2000 to the present.

The release of the report represents an extraordinary moment for Southern Baptists, the country’s largest Protestant denomination. As the group nears its annual gathering in June, its conservative membership, which has fallen to its lowest count in four decades, remains sharply divided by debates over race, gender and politics.

The denomination’s president, Ed Litton, whose term expires in June and who is not running for re-election, said in an interview on Sunday night that what he read in the report was “far worse” than anything he had anticipated. “We knew it was coming,” he said, but “it still is very challenging and surprising — shocking — to have to face these realities.”

The denomination has long emphasized that its decentralized structure meant it had little ability to force churches to take any action, because legally each church stood alone and did not report to higher authorities. But the report alleged that a handful of powerful leaders had the ability to stonewall abuse reports and attempts at accountability and reform.

It also found a pattern of intimidating survivors of sexual assault and their advocates, and said they were “denigrated as ‘opportunists.’”

In an internal email, August Boto, an influential executive committee leader, described advocates’ efforts as a “satanic scheme to completely distract us from evangelism,” referring to the work of Christa Brown, a survivor, and the advocate Rachael Denhollander, who has worked with the denomination, as “the devil being temporarily successful.” Mr. Boto could not be reached immediately for comment.

The report, which was conducted by Guidepost Solutions, stated that over the past two decades, “many reform efforts were met with resistance, typically due to concerns over incurring legal liability.” The Times did not independently verify the contents of the report.

A proposal in 2007 to keep track of accused sex offenders was rejected in 2008 on the grounds it interfered with individual church autonomy, the report said, even though an outside counsel had suggested it could be done in keeping with denominational structure.

The report also revealed that an executive committee staff member working for Mr. Boto had, for more than 10 years, maintained a detailed list of ministers accused of abuse. But no one “took any action to ensure that the accused ministers were no longer in positions of power at SBC churches,” the report stated. The most recent list, it added, contained the names of hundreds of alleged abusers affiliated with the denomination at some time. Investigators reviewed the same list and reported that it appears nine people remain at least connected to work in a ministry setting, including two connected with a Southern Baptist church.

It said that leaders including Ronnie Floyd, a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention who resigned as the head of the executive committee in October, had resisted the creation of a task force to investigate the executive committee. Mr. Floyd did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

The report described revelations in recent years that senior leaders had “protected or even supported abusers.” The leaders included three former presidents of the denomination, Steve Gaines, Jack Graham and Paige Patterson, as well as a former vice president and Mr. Boto, a former executive committee interim president and general counsel. A spokesman for Prestonwood Baptist Church, where Mr. Graham is pastor, said the church “categorically denies” the way the report characterizes an incident under his leadership in which it alleged Mr. Graham quietly dismissed an accused abuser on his staff rather than contacting police. Mr. Gaines and Mr. Patterson could not be immediately reached for comment.

During the course of Guidepost’s investigation, the report said, a pastor and his wife came forward to allege that Johnny Hunt, who was president of the denomination from 2008 to 2010, had sexually assaulted the wife shortly after his presidency ended. The report described the pastor and his wife as “credible,” and said that parts of their account were corroborated by four other credible witnesses.

Mr. Hunt denied the accusations to Guidepost, but he resigned this month from the denomination’s North American Mission Board. Mr. Hunt did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

When the denomination’s public policy arm, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, compiled a report on sexual abuse, leaders of the executive committee and outside counsel “suggested changes to the report to avoid potential liability, including removing the word ‘crisis’ when referring to sexual abuse,” the report stated.

The report comes weeks before the convention’s annual meeting and is likely to send shock waves through its nearly 14 million members.

“This report is horrifying. The number of lives decimated by those who claim to follow Jesus is almost beyond comprehension,” said Boz Tchividjian, an attorney who specializes in representing survivors of abuse in faith settings. “Perhaps it’s time for the SBC to be no more.”

“People’s lives have been absolutely decimated,” said Ms. Brown, a longtime advocate for reform in the denomination who said she had spent Sunday afternoon reading and processing the report. “That part of it just breaks my heart.”

Dave Pittman, who from 2006 to 2011 made phone calls and sent letters and emails to the SBC and Georgia Baptist Convention Board reporting that he had been abused by Frankie Wiley, a youth pastor at Rehoboth Baptist Church when he was 12 to 15 years old.

Pittman and several others have come forward publicly to report that Wiley molested and raped them and Wiley has admitted to abusing "numerous victims" at several Georgia Southern Baptist churches.

According to the report, a Georgia Baptist Convention official told Pittman that the churches were autonomous and there was nothing he could do but pray.

Ms. Brown said she was sexually abused by a youth minister at her Southern Baptist church when she was 16. He later moved on to another church in the denomination. Ms. Brown began alerting leaders in the denomination to her treatment in 2004, but they took no action, she said. At a 2007 meeting of the executive committee observed by Ms. Brown, a member referred to her as a “a person of no integrity.”

Ms. Brown said she was glad to see the publication of the report, which validates so many claims of survivors. But, she added, “All of this could have been prevented.”

Leaders of the executive committee said in a statement that they would hold a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the report.

“To the members of the survivor community, we are grieved by the findings of this investigation,” said Rolland Slade, the group’s chairman, and Willie McLaurin, the group’s interim president. “This is the beginning of a season of listening, lamenting, and learning how to address sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention.”

The report recommended actions for future reforms. Those steps included the creation of an offender information system “to alert the community to known offenders” that could be made available to churches on “a voluntary basis,” and the creation of an abuse-prevention program for churches and other Baptist entities, which would also be voluntary.

The report also recommended that the Southern Baptists eventually create a new administrative group that would oversee “comprehensive long-term reforms concerning sexual abuse and related misconduct,” and that church entities should restrict the use of nondisclosure agreements and civil settlements that demand confidentiality unless requested by the survivor. It also suggested that the committee that currently handles abuse allegations improve its procedures to become more transparent.

Interesting concept, no records equal no liability..

We'll see how that works out for them.

These "survivors" don't know how to dial 911?

I guess it's time for Protestants to have their turn in the pickle barrel.

Hope they get the problem fixed, but kids are 100x more likely to be molested in school. There are far more pervs per capita working in schools.

Southern Baptist Convention is a business. Bad PR is bad for business.

No, dummy, no denomination means no liability. Every church is independent. The Southern Baptist Convention does nothing more than cooperate for mission purposes. Every church is completely autonomous and consults with no one when hiring and firing individual preachers or other workers. Only individual churches could be liable.

Even if somehow the convention itself were liable, there is no money and no assets beyond a few buildings.

Something like this is atheist utopia, nothing else.

This is where each church must draw the line. My former pastor would not have a private talk with any woman without his wife being present or the chruch secretary. They hired a woman professional to talk with women about their problems. Pastor talked to men only about their problems. Youth director always had his wife present with the youth. Simple solutions to avoid any problems. In my church anyone who were caught in adultry were told to leave the church. This was Assembly of God.

Doesn't make any difference what type of organization....church, union, school, charity, NRA, political body, govt agency....mix money, power, lack of oversight, and you will have corruption and general f---kery on a grand scale....every single time.

Its why Jesus destroyed the concept of organized Hierarchy when he said “it is finished”.

We (people) are the Kingdom of God, the building is only a meeting place.

By doing this he also made the Kingdom of God a moving target.

Doesn’t matter what denomination, group, or independent body you are a member of. Doesn’t matter what position or title you hold. You are independently responsible. Call the law. Bring the predators down. And if they happen to fall down some stairs while awaiting justice so be it. Priest, pastor or common pervert. All are disgusting in the eyes of God.

Are they Catholic?

Lol.

Yep another uncovered news story showing extreme bias.

Yeah, we'll see how that works out for the them.

As long as the Executive Committee controls the purse strings. Acting with approval from messengers to SBC annual meetings, the Executive Committee receives and processes funds that go from 47,000 churches to all SBC entities, even setting the percentages of distribution, they are all one and will be held accountable as one.


Southern Baptist leaders covered up clergy sexual abuse and stonewalled victims for decades, a bombshell report finds
May 23rd 2022

The report found SBC leaders kept a secret list of sex offenders and dismissed victims.With 13 million members, the SBC is the largest Protestant denomination in the US.

An independent investigation released by the Southern Baptist Convention on Sunday found leaders covered up or ignored sexual abuse allegations and treated victims with hostility for decades.

The nearly 300-page bombshell report, which was ordered by the 13-million-member SBC, sent shockwaves through the largest Protestant denomination in the US.

The investigation found survivors and other Southern Baptists reported child molesters and abusers who were in the pulpit or church employees to SBC leadership "only to be met, time and time again, with resistance, stonewalling, and even outright hostility."

The report outlined specific sexual abuse allegations and the response of leaders, finding that a few senior leaders on the SBC Executive Committee and outside counsel determined how reports of abuse were handled. The report said they were "singularly focused on avoiding liability for the SBC."

"In service of this goal, survivors and others who reported abuse were ignored, disbelieved, or met with the constant refrain that the SBC could take no action due to its polity regarding church autonomy – even if it meant that convicted molesters continued in ministry with no notice or warning to their current church or congregation," the report said.

The report also found that SBC leaders lied about a database of offenders. They had said the church could not maintain such a database due to how the SBC operated, despite calls for one to prevent future abuse. However, SBC leaders secretly kept their own list, according to the report.

Russell Moore, a prominent evangelical and former president of the SBC's policy arm, wrote in Christianity Today on Sunday that "the investigation uncovers a reality far more evil and systemic than I imagined it could be."

Moore, who departed the SBC last year, wrote that even though he had called for such an investigation the extent of the report's findings shook him.

The third-party firm that conducted the investigation, Guidepost Solutions, recommended that SBC create an online database of abusers, establish a unit focused on sexual abuse, compensate survivors, and limit non-disclosure agreements.

There's another piece of wisdom behind the confessional box.

Hey- - - - -they can't let the catholics have all the fun, can they? The easiest way to get a nun pregnant is to dress her up like an altar boy!

And it's as simple as that.

But NO, their greed to protect their income flow and reputation drives them to hide the evidence presented to them instead.

These arrogant basterds think they've outsmarted the Catholics by creating a invincible firewall to protect their azzes assets.

We'll see how that works out for them.

Baptist Firewall

There are no purse strings. Churches do not send money to the SBA except for missions. The SBA doesn’t send down pastors or anything else. The SBA makes and sells Sunday School materials to churches who may use them or not.

It’s not a firewall, it’s the way the churches are organized. The president of the SBA has absolutely no authority over any church whatsoever.

Report whatever you want to the SBA about anything you want, they have no authority to do anything to a church or an employee of the church.

edit to add..... what he said above!

one thing different about Southern Baptists.
There is no real central authority.
Each church is dynamic and the SBC does not have authority over any individual church as Catholics and some other denominations do.
SBC is more of a fellowship. Churches join and churches leave.
Churches may be invited out of the SBC but that's about it.

So a vast conspiracy like happened in the Catholic church is quite different.

Not taking up for them or denigrating them as I'm a Southern Baptist pastor myself, just mentioning.

My feeling is, though, that any church that tolerates sexual abuse by paid or volunteer staff need to be disciplined.
If illegal activity is involved, there is no mere "confession and forgiveness", but legal authorities ought to be contacted to investigate.
If there is a coverup at any level, then that ought to be investigated and either disciplined or prosecuted where appropriate.

So you are saying everything written by the Baptist News.Com is a blatant lie?


https://baptistnews.com/article/as-...ount-the-cost-of-this-work/#.YovE1EcpAzR