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

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

The 205-page list is a compilation of ministers and different 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 information about abusers from published news studies.

The publication of the list comes after the discharge Sunday of a 300-page report by an unbiased investigator that described how leaders of the Southern Baptist denomination for many years have obtained studies of sexual abuse dedicated by church workers, pastors and others. But these stories have been largely stored secret and, quite than appearing upon and investigating reports of sexual abuse, denomination leaders sought to intimidate and vilify victims and their advocates.

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

The disaster rocking the Southern Baptist denomination this week is similar 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 legal responsibility 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 personal denomination’s clergy intercourse abuse disaster, 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 sex abuse.

Doyle was told, “Southern Baptist leaders really haven't any authority over native churches,” a response that Doyle regarded as dismissive, in keeping with the investigative report. 

That same yr, 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, based on the report, and witnesses on the conference recalled little about it besides to specific their opinion that it would “violate native church autonomy.”

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

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

“Each entry on this record reminds us of the devastation and destruction led to by sexual abuse,” said a joint statement from Willie McLaurin and Rolland Slade, each SBC executive committee members. “Our prayer is that the survivors of these heinous acts find hope and therapeutic, and that churches will utilize this record proactively to protect and care for essentially the most weak among us.”

Attorneys for the SBC executive committee researched the checklist of accused abusers, taking steps to confirm info it contained. It left unredacted entries about alleged abusers that could be confirmed, while redacting entries the place someone was acquitted or did not have a closing disposition, in addition to information that might determine victims.

Missouri males characteristic prominently on the listing. 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 extra in-depth information from Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, we invite you to follow us on Twitter.