Eight Missouri ministers accused of sex abuse in Southern Baptist Conference report • Missouri Independent

The Southern Baptist Convention on Thursday released a once-secret and prolonged record of accused intercourse abusers — several of whom are in the Midwest — within the denomination.

The 205-page record is a compilation of ministers and different church staff who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. The list is described as a “fluid, working doc” that was additionally incomplete but largely pulls information about abusers from revealed information stories.

The publication of the listing comes after the release Sunday of a 300-page report by an impartial investigator that described how leaders of the Southern Baptist denomination for decades have obtained reports of sexual abuse committed by church workers, pastors and others. However these reports were largely saved secret and, rather than acting upon and investigating studies of sexual abuse, denomination leaders sought to intimidate and vilify victims and their advocates.

“The whole thing ought to be seen for what it is,” wrote former Southern Baptist Convention executive committee member and normal counsel D. August Boto in an internal e mail that was published in the report. “It’s a satanic scheme to completely distract us from evangelism.”

The crisis rocking the Southern Baptist denomination this week is comparable in some ways to what the Catholic church continues to face. Leaders in both faiths systematically hid details about sexual misconduct, appeared to point out extra concern about their very own legal liability than the victims and at occasions did not expel accused abusers from positions of authority.

In 2007, Father Thomas Doyle, a Catholic priest credited as one of many first to warn of his own denomination’s clergy sex abuse crisis, wrote a letter to SBC management conveying his concern that Southern Baptist leaders had been repeating the failures of the Catholic church in coping with sex abuse.

Doyle was informed, “Southern Baptist leaders actually haven't any authority over local churches,” a response that Doyle thought to be dismissive, based on the investigative report. 

That same yr, on the SBC convention in San Antonio, Oklahoma pastor Wade Burleson made a motion to create a database of Southern Baptist clergy who had been convicted or credibly accused of, or had confessed to sexual abuse. The proposal was meant to “assist in stopping any future sexual abuse or harassment.”

The database proposal appeared to go nowhere, in response to the report, and witnesses at the conference recalled little about it except to express their opinion that it could “violate local church autonomy.”

Ultimately, a staffer for the SBC govt committee since 2007 had maintained a list of accused ministers and church workers, nevertheless it was kept hidden from the general public and even SBC executive committee trustees, in line with the report.

Southern Baptist leaders said publicizing the record of credibly accused abusers represented “an initial, however necessary, step towards addressing the scourge of sexual abuse and implementing reform within the Conference.”

“Each entry on this record reminds us of the devastation and destruction caused by sexual abuse,” stated a joint statement from Willie McLaurin and Rolland Slade, each SBC executive committee members. “Our prayer is that the survivors of those heinous acts find hope and healing, and that church buildings will make the most of this record proactively to protect and look after essentially the most weak amongst us.”

Legal professionals for the SBC government committee researched the listing of accused abusers, taking steps to confirm information it contained. It left unredacted entries about alleged abusers that could possibly be confirmed, while redacting entries the place somebody was acquitted or did not have a remaining disposition, as well as data that would identify victims.

Missouri men feature prominently on the list. They embody:

This story comes from the Midwest Newsroom, an investigative journalism collaboration including IPR, KCUR 89.3, Nebraska Public Media News, St. Louis Public Radio and NPR. For extra in-depth news from Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, we invite you to observe us on Twitter.