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

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

The 205-page list is a compilation of ministers and other church workers who've been credibly accused of sexual abuse. The list is described as a “fluid, working document” that was also incomplete but largely pulls details about abusers from published information stories.

The publication of the checklist comes after the release Sunday of a 300-page report by an unbiased investigator that described how leaders of the Southern Baptist denomination for many years have received stories of sexual abuse committed by church employees, pastors and others. But those reviews have been largely kept secret and, moderately than appearing upon and investigating reviews of sexual abuse, denomination leaders sought to intimidate and vilify victims and their advocates.

“The entire thing ought to be seen for what it is,” wrote former Southern Baptist Conference govt committee member and general counsel D. August Boto in an inner electronic mail that was revealed in the report. “It’s a satanic scheme to utterly distract us from evangelism.”

The disaster rocking the Southern Baptist denomination this week is analogous in many ways to what the Catholic church continues to face. Leaders in both faiths systematically hid details about sexual misconduct, appeared to show extra concern about their very own authorized legal responsibility than the victims and at times failed to 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 personal denomination’s clergy intercourse abuse crisis, wrote a letter to SBC leadership conveying his concern that Southern Baptist leaders have been repeating the failures of the Catholic church in dealing with intercourse abuse.

Doyle was instructed, “Southern Baptist leaders truly don't have any authority over local church buildings,” a response that Doyle thought to be dismissive, in accordance with the investigative report. 

That same yr, at the SBC convention 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 “assist in stopping any future sexual abuse or harassment.”

The database proposal appeared to go nowhere, according to the report, and witnesses on the convention recalled little about it besides to express their opinion that it would “violate local church autonomy.”

Finally, a staffer for the SBC executive committee since 2007 had maintained a list of accused ministers and church employees, but it surely was kept hidden from the general public and even SBC executive committee trustees, according to the report.

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

“Each entry in this checklist reminds us of the devastation and destruction brought about by sexual abuse,” said a joint statement from Willie McLaurin and Rolland Slade, both SBC government committee members. “Our prayer is that the survivors of these heinous acts discover hope and healing, and that churches will make the most of this record proactively to protect and look after the most weak amongst us.”

Attorneys for the SBC government committee researched the checklist of accused abusers, taking steps to confirm data it contained. It left unredacted entries about alleged abusers that could possibly be confirmed, while redacting entries the place someone was acquitted or didn't have a last disposition, as well as info that could establish victims.

Missouri men characteristic prominently on the record. They embrace:

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 more in-depth information from Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, we invite you to comply with us on Twitter.