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Southern Baptist leaders released a list of alleged church-related sex offenders on Thursday evening that the denomination chiefs had kept secret for more than a decade. The Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention said earlier this week that it would publish the names after issuing a third-party investigation that suggested widespread cover-up by top leaders who ignored and even “diversified” the names. people who filed abuse stories.
The database, which an SBC lawyer said includes people who have been criminally convicted of abuse and those who have confessed to abuse, is expected to show what top leaders knew behind the scenes. while they tell Southern Baptists that they could not create a list of accused aggressors because the denomination is not hierarchical and the churches function independently of each other.
A description at the top of the document says, “This is a fluid working paper.” It consists of more than 600 entries, the date on which the person was reported and the information extracted in most news articles, compiled from 2007 to 2022. is incomplete. Not checked. Not properly researched. It is not specific to the Southern Baptist, “the document states. It notes that after June 2008,” only the alleged [titles] of articles were cataloged “.
The launch of the database comes 15 years after Christa Brown began sounding the alarm that Southern Baptists needed to maintain this list to prevent the assailants from moving from church to church. She first told SBC leaders in 2004 that she had been abused by a young pastor who went on to serve in other southern Baptist churches in several states. But the report released Sunday by the SBC said she he met with hostility when he suggested the idea in 2007.
Brown, 68, was moved Thursday when he learned that the man who allegedly abused her was included in the database, an official recognition of the Southern Baptist Convention.
“That means a lot to the survivors,” he said. “It’s a reflection of how cruel it was to shut down any kind of validation for decades. For survivors to heal, that kind of validation is an acknowledgment of the truth of the horror of what it did to us.”
The man who allegedly abused her, who has not been charged or convicted, hung up the phone in response to a request for comment from the Washington Post. He said the man started abusing her in 1968 and that when a civil lawsuit was filed against him in 2005, the statute of limitations had expired.
But, Brown said, the list is also a “very small measure of justice.”
“They can’t hit each other on the back for that,” Brown added. “I’m sorry. Only God knows why they kept it a secret. It’s the smallest thing to do.”
Key Findings of the Southern Baptists Sexual Abuse Bomb Report
Before the list was published, SBC lawyers said they would write the names of the survivors and try to make sure they only include names of people who were “credibly accused.” This includes pastors, denominational workers, ministry employees, or volunteers who they have confessed to being abused, have been convicted in court or have had a civil sentence against them. In addition, an independent third party could determine that someone was “credibly charged” with a “preponderance of evidence.”
“This is a critical first step,” said Rachael Denhollander, a lawyer and former gymnast who denounced former U.S. gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar for his serial sexual assaults. and it is now an advisor to a Southern Baptist working group on the subject. “At least it’s starting to show a level of transparency and accountability.”
The CBC has long sought to distinguish itself from the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse scandal by saying that its churches were independent of each other. But University of Pennsylvania professor Marci Hamilton, an expert on child abuse prevention laws, said the SBC has no position to legally distinguish itself from the Catholic Church in its responsibility to victims, whether minors or adults when incidents occur. The SBC, he said, is “the governing body of the whole church, so they are responsible for policies and concealment, which is obvious.”
Because billions of $ 1 billion have been imposed on the Catholic Church over the past 20 years, Hamilton said, other non-Catholic religious groups have argued that their structure and beliefs make them different when it comes to responsibility. . Southern Baptist and non-denominational groups have said they are too affiliated to be held accountable, but he said the courts have found the opposite when they have looked at other religious groups.
“The question is: did they act recklessly, endangering children and adults? And the answer is yes, “Hamilton said. alerting the public and avoiding going to the authorities. This defense that they have been saying – ‘We are organized in a different way’ – is full of holes. That’s not a defense. “
Hamilton said victims who were minors at the time of the abuse and presented as adults may have more difficulty because of the slowly changing statute of limitations. However, there are more states extending the deadlines for people to file civil lawsuits.
Guidepost Solutions ’third-party research, commissioned by Southern Baptists at its annual convention last year and published Sunday, focused exclusively on the SBC Executive Committee, based in Nashville, the second smallest organization in the United States. SBC, which manages finances and administration, including distributing funds from churches across the country to other organizations.
Two Southern Baptist leaders, Kevin Ezell of the North American Mission Board and Danny Akin of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, said this week that they would invite Guidepost to investigate the allegations in their organizations.
Akin said in an interview who knew perhaps three or four cases alleged sexual abuse in her 19 years in Southeastern, including one that eventually led to the dismissal of former Southeastern President Paige Patterson, who was named in the Guidepost report.
Akin said he is recommending to his board that Patterson’s name be removed from one of the seminary buildings. Patterson was fired from another seminar in 2018 after his board said he had mishandled two cases of sexual abuse of women, including one in the southeast.
The Guidepost report also alleged that Johnny Hunt, a longtime former vice president of the North American Mission Board and pastor, sexually assaulted a woman, which he has denied on Twitter. Akin said the seminar has already removed its name from the programs and facilities.
Akin said he was close to both Patterson and Hunt and called the last few days “some of the saddest of my life.”
“My heart is crushed, but that hasn’t changed my love [Johnny]”I pray that he will forgive the people,” he said. “I think that if he tells us what is right, he will receive that forgiveness. “It could be significant. But we’ll see.”
Several survivors of sexual abuse have said they plan to fly to Anaheim, California, for the annual SBC meeting next month because they see a push for potential change. Among them is Jules Woodson, the 2018 allegation that her young Southern Baptist pastor sexually assaulted her was seen as one of the main points that led the denomination to confront sexual abuse.
On Thursday night, Woodson cried when he learned that Andy Savage, who he says abused her when she was 17, was listed in the database. In 2018, Savage, who has not been charged or convicted, publicly admitted “a sexual incident,” said he felt “deeply” and received a standing ovation from his congregation.
“I feel recognized for the first time in a long time,” Woodson said. “It simply came to our notice then. They knew it and they did nothing. “
Savage, who is a pastor at a non-SBC church in Tennessee, could not be reached for comment.
Woodson said leaders of the SBC church she attended when she was abused in 1998 had told her to remain silent, and when she decided to rule, the statute of limitations had expired. Her story went viral in 2018, and this is the first time SBC has publicly acknowledged Savage’s name.
Woodson said she later went to a psychiatric ward because she was depressed and had PTSD, lost her college degree and the career she wanted, as a pilot (now a flight attendant).
“I’ve lost a lot,” she said as she cried.
Her mother said she would lose her children if she presented the story of her abuse.
Woodson said he expects the SBC to take more action than publish the database on Thursday, including setting up a survivor compensation fund and a survivor monument in Nashville.
“Am I happy with the database?” said Woodson, 41. “Yes. It’s a piece of the puzzle.”
SBC Executive Committee apologizes to survivors of sexual abuse after explosive report is released
In 2019, Woodson wrote to Germantown Baptist Church leaders in Tennessee to see if they would revoke the ordination of the man who confessed to his congregation that he had “a sexual incident” with Woodson as a teenager. According to Woodson, a church leader responded by telling him that the church had no comment. He did not respond to requests from The Washington Post for further comment.
The Executive Committee on Wednesday set up a third-party hotline for survivors of sexual abuse, led by Guidepost. The hotline can …