A call for the Attorney General to investigate sexual abuse in the SBC – Baptist News Global

As the Southern Baptist Convention prepares Although the organization is meeting next week in Indianapolis for its annual convention, few in the abuse community expect it to result in significant progress in protecting children and parishioners from clergy sexual abuse.

It has been more than five years since the investigative series Abuse of Faith brought national attention to the widespread problem of sexual abuse and cover-ups in the country’s largest Protestant denomination. The six-part series, co-published by the Houston Chronicle And San Antonio Express Newsdocumented more than 700 people who were sexually abused by Southern Baptist clergy and church workers; almost all of them were children at the time of the abuse.

Survivors and advocates immediately recognized that this was just “the tip of the iceberg.” And even JD Greear, then president of the SBC, acknowledged that the number probably represented “only a fraction of the actual cases of abuse in SBC churches.”

The investigation into the “abuse of faith” Not only have cases of abuse been uncovered in local churches, but former SBC presidents and prominent Southern Baptist leaders have also been implicated in the mishandling of abuse reports.

Christa Brown

David Clohessy

Dave Pittman

This Southern Baptist horror was reaffirmed two years ago in the Guidepost report, which also revealed that victims of clergy sexual abuse had been met with “resistance, stonewalling, and even outright hostility” and that “some high-ranking SBC officials had protected or even supported alleged abusers.”

Even before the Guidepost report and Abuse of Faith, it was clear that “SBC leadership has long been aware of the problem.” Eighteen years ago, we first proposed reforms to SBC officials, including a proposal for independent evaluations of clergy abuse reports and for institutional recording and sharing of information about credibly accused clergy.

But now we are in 2024 and the SBC has still done very little to address the problem. Time and again we have made concrete suggestions about what SBC officials could do, but our calls for action are ignored or sidestepped.

For example, there is still no sustained funding for abuse reforms, and the SBC has yet to establish a denominational database of clergy sexual abusers. Instead, it praised itself for launching a database and portrayed it as a “historic” moment, when in reality the supposed database is an empty shell with no data.

In other words, the SBC was putting on a self-serving PR show – a play without substance. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, SBC officials were actively working to against Accountability by filing an amicus curiae brief against the survivors.

Over the course of many years We are seeing this pattern repeat itself: lots of sensationalism and lots of platitudes, followed by persistent recalcitrance and institutional inertia.

In a 2022 resolution, the SBC openly admitted that its “institutional responses have, at times, caused irreparable personal harm to survivors of sexual abuse.” It also acknowledged the SBC’s “failure to adequately hold perpetrators of sexual abuse accountable” and apologized for “the untold harm this failure has caused survivors through both our actions and inaction.”

But despite these admissions, there are no attempts at repentance or reform from the institutional side. Inaction and “unspeakable suffering” continue to prevail.

“As we write this, SBC presidential candidates are debating whether there is even an abuse crisis within the SBC.”

As we write this, SBC presidential candidates are debating whether there is even an abuse “crisis” within the SBC. The opposition is deep.

The SBC had numerous opportunities to seriously address this problem, but the abuses and cover-ups continue – as they have for decades – and new stories come to light every week. It is an institutionally entrenched problem, and there is no sign of it abating.

This is why secular authorities must step in. The SBC has repeatedly shown that it will not take meaningful action to expose the criminal abuses within its ranks or to remedy the severe suffering of survivors.

The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the SBC in sexual abuse cases, and we recently learned that pastor and former seminary director Matt Queen has been charged with falsifying records to cover up a report of sexual abuse.

The Justice Department’s investigation is ongoing. and it is possible that further federal charges will follow. Nevertheless, state authorities should also investigate.

Crimes involving sexual abuse and assault are often crimes under state law, so no matter what the final results of the Justice Department’s investigation, no one should assume that federal criminal proceedings all the crimes that may have been committed. And of course, the absence of federal law enforcement does not mean that immoral and criminal behavior does not exist.

According to Child USA, a national child protection think tank, at least 23 state attorneys general have opened or are beginning investigations into sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. These investigations have uncovered important information about credibly accused priests – information that has helped protect others, validated survivors and provided a better understanding of the extent of abuse within the Catholic Church.

“At least 23 attorneys general have conducted or initiated investigations into sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.”

Similar government investigations are needed for the evangelical Southern Baptist Convention. Experts say the number of children abused in Protestant churches is probably higher than in Catholic churches, and evangelicals react “worse” to abuse than Catholics.

The attorney general’s investigation could provide an opportunity for many more Southern Baptist survivors to have their allegations made public – something they are often denied due to short statutes of limitations that church officials are quick to exploit.

If more sexually abusive pastors were exposed, more children and parishioners could be made safer, and families could make more informed decisions about their worship. And if the extent of the harm was made public, more pressure could be applied to reform outdated statutes of limitations so more victims can obtain justice in the legal system and expose and deter those who commit or cover up sexual abuse.

Southern Baptist representatives continue to ignore the pleas of survivors because they put protecting the institution above protecting the people in their cowardly calculations. They calculate the cost to the SBC and choose to protect denominational money rather than protecting children.

Investigations by the states’ attorneys general could help change this unholy calculation.

Christa Brown, David Clohessy And Dave Pittman are all victims of clergy sexual abuse and are actively working for reforms in the SBC and other religious groups. Brown is the author of the recently published memoir, Baptistland; Clohessy is the longtime former director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP); Pittman is the director of Together We Heal.