Posted on 08/14/2022 8:56:27 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
If you’re Southern Baptist, you should know that the federal government is looking into your organization.
As relayed by Fox News, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has announced it’s under investigation by the Department of Justice. And though the Convention is being a bit vague, the revealed reason is particularly disconcerting.
Apparently, the DOJ’s probe is related to how the largest Protestant denomination in America has managed allegations of sexual abuse.
From the SBC Executive Committee’s statement posted online:
[The Committee] recently became aware that the Department of Justice has initiated an investigation into the Southern Baptist Convention, and that the investigation will include multiple SBC entities. … While we continue to grieve and lament past mistakes related to sexual abuse, current leaders across the SBC have demonstrated a firm conviction to address those issues of the past and are implementing measures to ensure they are never repeated in the future. The fact that the SBC Executive Committee recently completed a fully transparent investigation is evidence of this commitment.
A report in May by third-party firm Guidepost Solutions logged 200+ pages worth of abuse claims within the church.
In response, the Convention voted in June to track pastors who’ve been “credibly” accused of sexual abuse.
CNN explains:
The measure [defined] “credibly accused” as a “pastor, denominational worker, or ministry employee or volunteer … who has confessed to sexual abuse in a non-privileged setting, who has been convicted in a court of law, or who has had a civil judgment rendered against them”…
The SBC also commissioned the Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force to oversee changes to how abuse cases are handled and set up a fund for victims.
But other potential initiatives were left out. More from Fox News:
Thousands of Southern Baptists voted to support the new measures, though several additional reforms sought by abuse survivors were not adopted.
The additional measures that not enough members supported included a compensation fund for victims who were abused by church leaders and an independent commission to monitor churches’ internal affairs.
Bruce Frank, who led the task force that initialized the reform process, told members at the convention the steps they voted to implement were the “bare minimum” and he would continue to push for additional reforms.
As for federal investigations in general, the DOJ might be seen by some as increasingly more interested in probing entities on the Right side of the aisle, and the Southern Baptist Convention isn’t exactly Democrat-dense. Regardless, of course, charges of abuse within a religious organization are extremely disturbing. And a wealth of egregious errors must have been committed to result in the Guidepost Solutions report.
The SBC — which boasts roughly 14 million members across 47,000+ churches — has vowed to fully cooperate. Here’s the remainder of its statement:
Individually and collectively, each SBC entity is resolved to fully and completely cooperate with the investigation. … We recognize our reform efforts are not finished. In fact, those efforts are continuing this very moment as the recently-announced Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force begins its work and as each entity has strengthened its efforts to protect against abuse. Our commitment to cooperate with the Department of Justice is born from our demonstrated commitment to transparently address the scourge of sexual abuse.
While so many things in the world are uncertain, we can be certain that we serve a Mighty God. Nothing, including this investigation, takes Him by surprise. We take comfort in that and humbly ask you be in prayer in the days and weeks ahead. Specifically, we ask God to grant wisdom and discernment to each person dealing with the investigation.
EPSTEIN’s Lolita Express,,,
Sexual abuse by clergy: It’s not just a Catholic problem.
Don’t know that I believe this, seems to me the DOJ trying to destroy religious institutions I believe NOTHING from the DOJ or FBI, NOT A WORD!!
PA Democratic nominee for Governor Josh "Shylock" Shapiro is milking his prosecution persecution of the Catholic Church for all its worth.
Most of the sexual abuse in the SBC that I’ve seen publicized involved adults. Adultery, often over a period of time. There have also been cases of sexual assault on underage females, but those generally get turned over to the cops ASAP anyways.
And the number of cases - hundreds over a 20 year period involving 45,000 INDEPENDENT churches with a total “staff” that numbers into the 500,000 range - indicates the problems are rare.
Covering up is tough to do because there hasn’t been any top structure to DO the covering up. OTOH, the LACK of any overall structure - each church does its own searching for pastors using their own criteria - means it has been easier for a predator to hide by simply moving to another state.
The SBC has zero authority over ANY southern Baptist church. It is simply a joint cooperative for training preachers, printing books, and finding missionaries. But the SBC cannot order a church to hire, fire or take any personnel action,
DOJ is trash.
Adultery, often enabled by the unequal power relationship of senior pastor/CEO with staff or parishioner.
Most people who are connected into the SBC business...will tell you that there were issues even going back into the 1970s. Almost all adult-based. Would seem that the more recent stuff had pay-offs going on, with cash being preferred.
Watching a YouTube BlueGrass vid and a Question popped up;
Do You Trust the Government?
.
“Adultery, often enabled by the unequal power relationship of senior pastor/CEO with staff or parishioner.”
Writing from a Baptist perspective, a Baptist pastor doesn’t really HAVE a power relationship with the members. Some do based on having a powerful personality and maybe some in a large church feel intimidated...but Baptist pastors are not “priests” in the Catholic sense. No one holds them up as having special authority given by God.
From the report, this is an example:
“In 2019, during the period when Mike Stone was EC Chairman, a married pastor of an SBC church in Georgia was accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a single mother by several members of his congregation. The woman was in counseling with the pastor who had been sending her text messages and photographs that were sexually suggestive. These text messages and photographs were viewed by witnesses who were interviewed during our investigation. According to witnesses, the pastor agreed to apologize to the congregation and ask for forgiveness...
The witnesses recounted that the apology made by the pastor was not accurate, and that the survivor was blamed. The witnesses stated that they felt intimidated by Mr. Stone for bringing the pastor’s behavior to the attention of the deacons in the church. One witness attempted to call Mr. Stone and was instead contacted by Mr. Stone’s assistant who told him that Mr. Stone planned to help the pastor,
not the church.
After the apology, the pastor took a leave of absence but eventually came back to preach at the church. The witnesses stated that they were retaliated against by the deacons after they disclosed the pastor’s behavior.”
That stinks. Beyond a doubt. I’d argue the pastor should have been reported to the police to establish a record. He should have been fired on the spot and any deacon who tried to cover it up should have been removed as a deacon - but ONLY THE CONGREGATION has the authority to do those things in a Baptist church. No one else has the authority.
This isn’t the same as having a hierarchy that can move a priest around and cover up his past behavior. 45,000 INDEPENDENT CHURCHES. The SBC only exists to coordinate seminaries and mission support.
And where were they when the Catholic Church had its crisis
Another example from the report:
“As a result of her disclosure, Professor Sills resigned from his position at SBTS after being confronted by SBTS leadership in a meeting....Professor Sills’ long-time church was advised of Ms. Lyell’s abuse after which he was no longer a member at that church. At Ms. Lyell’s request, no public disclosures were made of the abuse by Lifeway or SBTS....
Once her boss at Lifeway put Ms. Lyell in touch with BP staff, Ms. Lyell began to communicate with them regarding the potential BP story. She provided a “first person” account of her sexual abuse to BP staff which made it clear that any sexual contact between her and Professor Sills was not consensual.
She recounted that the abuse began during a mission trip, and continued over a period of many years, despite having an otherwise close relationship with his family, and a seemingly close relationship with her abuser. Ms. Lyell was clear that any sexual contact she had with her abuser was nonconsensual and involved violence, threats of violence against her and others, and coercion.”
Let me repeat: “the abuse began during a mission trip, and continued over a period of many years, despite having an otherwise close relationship with his family, and a seemingly close relationship with her abuser.”
I’m not saying she was not abused in some fashion, but I have a lot of problems with calling a long-term relation over “many years” and having “a seemingly close relationship with her abuser” as a proven case of sexual abuse. Why? Because it also matches the description of “adultery” - which is also a SIN, but not a CRIME.
Adult woman, sustaining a many years relationship with a man and his family while claiming he was repeatedly raping her. Not saying it is impossible, but it certainly COULD be adultery, not rape. And yes, that pastor should have been canned and in some way highlighted to he could not continue to have active roles in the church. But that is tough to do with 45,000 AUTONOMOUS churches...
Dont ever talk to the FBI. Demand a lawyer. Then shut up.
The Baptists at one time made a point this was a mostly Catholic issue.
I want to add the report makes it clear there WERE times when people in the “SBC leadership” - a group with little power but lots of fame, and a group I tend to despise - were aware of credible allegations of rape, or of grooming underage girls for future rape, etc - and did nothing!
That is beyond disgusting. It also OUGHT to be illegal, although I don’t know how one proves it beyond a reasonable doubt. But there ARE cases in the report that are sickening. And it is also true I don’t understand what apparently sometimes happens, where a woman views a pastor or teacher as someone too...what? Important? Spiritual?...to refuse.
I’m no longer part of the SBC because of my dislike for what the “leadership” has become - and that was BEFORE the sex abuse cases were investigated.
My point is that the overwhelming majority of SBC churches NEVER had a whiff of this taking place. Most also have very limited interaction with other SBC churches, so in a big city you might have one church where abuse was taking place and 20 others with no idea it was going on.
I DO think too many of the SBC bigwigs were more interested in protecting their turf than in protecting their people, and it is shameful.
But it does NOT reflect anything I saw or heard about during my decades in SBC churches (as a member or deacon).
But the can assist in covering up preacher abuses. It can muddy the water on references. Both Catholics and baptists were more concerned about protecting the brand than the flock.
As such, I understand the SBC hasn't really provided HR type services to it's member churches. So it's a little hard to see how the SBC could be held responsible.
That said, I understand that we've had a database of credible sexual offenders for years. And if we are tracking them, then we really should have gone the extra step and made sure that churches were aware of the allegations, convictions and legal judgements.
But that in itself is a little tricky in how you implement it. The perps don't work for the SBC. They work for the association's member churches. And each church is a separate legal entity.
Exactly right!
If they want to investigate something southern, how about the Southern Poverty Law Center. That would be a much more worthwhile target.
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