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

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

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

The publication of the checklist comes after the release Sunday of a 300-page report by an independent investigator that described how leaders of the Southern Baptist denomination for many years have received reports of sexual abuse committed by church employees, pastors and others. However these studies have been largely stored secret and, quite than performing upon and investigating stories of sexual abuse, denomination leaders sought to intimidate and vilify victims and their advocates.

“The whole thing needs to be seen for what it is,” wrote former Southern Baptist Convention government committee member and common 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 crisis rocking the Southern Baptist denomination this week is comparable in many ways to what the Catholic church continues to face. Leaders in both faiths systematically hid information about sexual misconduct, appeared to indicate extra concern about their own legal liability than the victims and at instances didn't 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 were repeating the failures of the Catholic church in dealing with intercourse abuse.

Doyle was informed, “Southern Baptist leaders actually haven't any authority over native church buildings,” a response that Doyle thought to be dismissive, in accordance with the investigative report. 

That very 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, in accordance with the report, and witnesses at the conference recalled little about it besides to precise their opinion that it would “violate local church autonomy.”

In the end, a staffer for the SBC govt committee since 2007 had maintained an inventory of accused ministers and church staff, nevertheless it was saved hidden from the general public and even SBC executive committee trustees, in accordance with the report.

Southern Baptist leaders mentioned publicizing the checklist of credibly accused abusers represented “an preliminary, however vital, step in direction of addressing the scourge of sexual abuse and implementing reform in the Conference.”

“Every entry in this listing reminds us of the devastation and destruction caused by sexual abuse,” mentioned a joint assertion from Willie McLaurin and Rolland Slade, each SBC executive committee members. “Our prayer is that the survivors of those heinous acts find hope and therapeutic, and that church buildings will utilize this checklist proactively to protect and care for probably the most weak among us.”

Attorneys 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, whereas redacting entries where somebody was acquitted or did not have a closing disposition, as well as data that could establish victims.

Missouri men characteristic prominently on the checklist. They include:

This story comes from the Midwest Newsroom, an investigative journalism collaboration together with IPR, KCUR 89.3, Nebraska Public Media Information, 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.