SOUTHERN BAPTISTS VOTE TO KEEP LIST OF ACCUSED
Database to track sexual abusers in wake of investigation
More than 8,000 members of the Southern Baptist Convention met Tuesday and responded to the shocking findings of an independent investigation of the handling of sex abuse cases by passing a recommendation to create a database to track sex abusers and a formal group to handle sex abuse accusations going forward. Members of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination are also planning to elect the next president of the convention.
In May, Southern Baptist leaders published a report detailing a yearslong coverup of sex abuse within their denomination. For 15 years, the report alleged, leaders said they were not able to compile a database of sex abuse offenders — while they were secretly keeping a list of their own. The same week they released their report, they also released the list, which consisted of hundreds of names of alleged abusers, including many convicted of sex abuse crimes.
Before they discussed sex abuse proposals, however, a debate erupted over the role of female pastors, a topic that has prompted some on the far right to fear a leftward drift. Like other conservative evangelical groups across the country, Southern Baptists have been divided in recent years over issues such as racial justice, abortion and the idea of liberalism overtaking the denomination.
Earlier in the day, Southern Baptists also released a list of nine resolutions, including two on sexual abuse and one on the topic of abortion, that will be considered and voted on today.
The SBC’s sexual abuse task force also contacted about a dozen sex abuse survivors who were mentioned in the report and asked them whether they could be apologized to by name from the stage.
The denomination’s relief arm, Send Relief, announced it would designate $4 million in existing funding to back the recommendations, including $1 million in survivor care.
“Make no mistake, we’re in a Kairos moment, a seminal moment right now. Today we’ll choose between humility and hubris,” Bruce Frank, the pastor who has chaired the abuse task force, said as he opened the session on proposals before a rapt room of thousands.
For years, survivors of sexual assault in church settings have been calling on churches to admit the extent of abuse. It helped to generate a movement called #ChurchToo, a spinoff of the wider #MeToo movement, calling out not just sexual predators but also religious leaders involved in coverups or other mishandling of abuse claims.
Rachael Denhollander, an attorney, survivor and advocate who is advising the SBC on its abuse reform measures, said Tuesday the denomination has made progress but still has a long way to go.
“It’s 10 years behind everyone else on its understanding of abuse, of best standards,” she said. “I am seeing shifts, but I don’t want to downplay the reality that they’re a decade behind.”
Southern Baptists meet annually. The denomination, which shuns a hierarchical structure and is heavily democratic, passes resolutions every year that often signal the direction thousands of its members want to go. In 2021, the convention passed a resolution on abortion abolition that called for ending abortion in all cases, with no exceptions. In previous years, there have been flash points over “altright white supremacy” and critical race theory.
One resolution that will be considered Wednesday on sex abuse states that Southern Baptists urge state politicians to pass laws that would provide consistent definitions of sexual abuse by pastors, and they also urge legislators to “empower churches by shielding them from civil liability when they share information about alleged abuse.” In another resolution, they focus on the failures of the Southern Baptist Convention around sex abuse, and name and apologize to specific survivors with their permission.
In a resolution on abortion, Southern Baptists urge the Supreme Court to overturn the abortion-related precedents set in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
Southern Baptists at the meeting, who are called “messengers,” are also expected to elect their next leader, which could shape the direction of the 13.7 million-member