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 lengthy checklist of accused sex abusers — a number of of whom are in the Midwest — within the denomination.

The 205-page checklist is a compilation of ministers and different church staff who've been credibly accused of sexual abuse. The record is described as a “fluid, working document” that was additionally incomplete however largely pulls information about abusers from published news reports.

The publication of the list comes after the release Sunday of a 300-page report by an independent investigator that described how leaders of the Southern Baptist denomination for decades have acquired reports of sexual abuse dedicated by church workers, pastors and others. However those experiences had been largely stored secret and, relatively than performing upon and investigating reports 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 basic counsel D. August Boto in an inner e-mail that was revealed within the report. “It’s a satanic scheme to fully distract us from evangelism.”

The disaster 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 more concern about their 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 the 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 were 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 considered dismissive, in accordance with the investigative report. 

That same year, at the SBC conference in San Antonio, Oklahoma pastor Wade Burleson made a movement 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 “help in preventing any future sexual abuse or harassment.”

The database proposal appeared to go nowhere, in accordance with the report, and witnesses on the convention recalled little about it except to specific their opinion that it could “violate native church autonomy.”

Finally, a staffer for the SBC government committee since 2007 had maintained a list of accused ministers and church employees, but it was stored hidden from the general public and even SBC government committee trustees, in keeping with the report.

Southern Baptist leaders mentioned publicizing the listing of credibly accused abusers represented “an initial, but essential, step in direction of addressing the scourge of sexual abuse and implementing reform within the Conference.”

“Each entry in this list reminds us of the devastation and destruction brought about by sexual abuse,” mentioned a joint statement from Willie McLaurin and Rolland Slade, both SBC govt committee members. “Our prayer is that the survivors of those heinous acts discover hope and healing, and that churches will utilize this record proactively to guard and look after probably the most susceptible among us.”

Legal professionals for the SBC govt committee researched the record of accused abusers, taking steps to confirm info it contained. It left unredacted entries about alleged abusers that may very well be confirmed, while redacting entries where somebody was acquitted or didn't have a closing disposition, in addition to information that could determine victims.

Missouri males characteristic prominently on the list. They include:

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