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The Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention has publicly published a list of alleged sexual abusers, urging churches to use the list “proactively” to protect the vulnerable, following a comprehensive report on sexual abuse and decades of concealments in the denomination.
The list, which the committee submitted to Guidepost Solutions while compiling its 288-page investigation report, includes 205 pages of names, with some names and claims drafted.
“The recently published Guidepost report revealed a list of alleged abusers compiled by a former SBC Executive Committee employee,” wrote Willie McLaurin, interim chairman and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee, and Rolland Slade, chairman of the committee. , in a joint statement. Thursday. “This list is being made public for the first time as an initial but important step in tackling the scourge of sexual abuse and implementing a reform of the Convention.”
“Every entry on this list reminds us of the devastation and destruction caused by sexual abuse,” McLaurin and Slade wrote. “Our prayer is that the survivors of these heinous acts will find hope and healing, and that the churches will use this list proactively to protect and care for the most vulnerable among us.”
SOUTHERN BAPTIST SEXUAL ABUSE REPORT FOUND THAT VICTIMS WERE STONE MURAL, SUSPECTS ALLOWED TO RESTORE IN LEADERSHIP
Southern Baptist Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee, December 7, 2011. (Photo AP / Mark Humphrey, file)
The committee’s attorney, who made the drafting decisions, “included, in its entirety, entries referring to an admission, confession, conviction, conviction, sentence, sentencing, or inclusion in a sex offender registry. “The only exception to these entries is the wording of names or identifying information of survivors and / or other persons not related to the offender.”
“Other entries where the preliminary investigation did not indicate a provision that fits the described parameters have been drafted,” McLaurin and Slade explained. “Entries that are not related to sexual abuse or that resulted in acquittal are also removed.”
They promised “more thorough research and analysis of the entries written,” anticipating some publication of these details in the future. “We thought it was more important to publish the list and write it down than to delay and investigate.”
HUNDREDS OF SOUTHERN BATIST LEADERS, VOLUNTEERS ACCUSED OF SEXUAL CONDUCT IN BOMBSHELL INVESTIGATION
“Our God invites us to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God (Micah 6: 8),” added McLaurin and Slade. “As a network of Great Commission churches, we are committed to fulfilling the Great Commandment and fulfilling the Great Commission. We hope that publishing this list will focus on truth and transparency. Southern Baptists have made it clear that transparency in the area of sexual abuse should be the norm. “
Christa Brown of Denver speaks during a demonstration in Birmingham, Alabama, outside the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention on June 11, 2019. Brown, a retired author and lawyer, says she was abused by a minister southern baptist when he was a child. (Photo AP / Julie Bennett / Archive)
The list comes days after the news of the Guidepost Solutions report on Sunday. The report found that victims of sexual abuse in the church were locked up and faced “total hostility” from the leadership, as the alleged perpetrators could remain in leadership positions.
“Our research revealed that for many years, a number of EC leaders, along with an outside lawyer, largely monitored the EC’s response to these reports of abuse … and focused singularly on avoid liability to the SBC, “the report said.
In a statement on Sunday, SBC President Ed Litton said he was “heartbroken” and called for it. Southern Baptist members work to change the culture found in the report.
“I urge Southern Baptists to begin preparing today to take deliberate steps to address these failures and chart a new course when we meet in Anaheim. [for the next SBC national meeting]”Litton said.
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The SBC will hold its national meeting at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California, from June 14-15.
Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said the report should lead southern Baptists to repentance, as biblical prophets did in carrying “sackcloth and ashes.”
Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr., President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, speaks to reporters about a conference in Louisville, Kentucky, October 5, 2015. (AP Photo / Bruce Schreiner, File)
“The report is devastating, heartbreaking and infuriating,” he said Monday in his podcast “The Briefing.” “Southern Baptist must see this report as part of an account that will reveal the wrath of God, but also as mercy each in the right proportion.” While “some see this report as an opportunity to condemn the Southern Baptist Convention and punish its churches, members, and leaders,” Mohler noted that “it was, after ll, the SBC that demanded this investigation.” .