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

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

The 205-page listing is a compilation of ministers and different church workers who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. The list is described as a “fluid, working doc” that was also incomplete however largely pulls details about abusers from revealed information studies.

The publication of the record comes after the discharge Sunday of a 300-page report by an independent investigator that described how leaders of the Southern Baptist denomination for many years have obtained reviews of sexual abuse committed by church employees, pastors and others. But these studies had been largely kept secret and, rather than acting upon and investigating stories of sexual abuse, denomination leaders sought to intimidate and vilify victims and their advocates.

“The whole thing should be seen for what it's,” wrote former Southern Baptist Conference government committee member and common counsel D. August Boto in an internal email that was revealed within the report. “It’s a satanic scheme to completely distract us from evangelism.”

The crisis rocking the Southern Baptist denomination this week is comparable in some ways to what the Catholic church continues to face. Leaders in each faiths systematically hid details about sexual misconduct, appeared to point out extra concern about their own authorized liability than the victims and at times 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 sex abuse disaster, wrote a letter to SBC leadership conveying his concern that Southern Baptist leaders had been repeating the failures of the Catholic church in coping with sex abuse.

Doyle was instructed, “Southern Baptist leaders truly don't have any authority over local churches,” a response that Doyle thought to be dismissive, based on the investigative report. 

That same year, on the SBC convention in San Antonio, Oklahoma pastor Wade Burleson made a motion 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, according to the report, and witnesses at the convention recalled little about it except to express their opinion that it will “violate native church autonomy.”

Ultimately, a staffer for the SBC government committee since 2007 had maintained a list of accused ministers and church employees, but it was stored hidden from the general public and even SBC govt committee trustees, in line with the report.

Southern Baptist leaders said publicizing the checklist of credibly accused abusers represented “an initial, however vital, step towards 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,” stated a joint assertion from Willie McLaurin and Rolland Slade, both SBC govt committee members. “Our prayer is that the survivors of these heinous acts discover hope and healing, and that church buildings will make the most of this record proactively to guard and take care of the most susceptible amongst us.”

Legal professionals for the SBC govt committee researched the listing of accused abusers, taking steps to confirm information it contained. It left unredacted entries about alleged abusers that may very well be confirmed, while redacting entries the place somebody was acquitted or did not have a ultimate disposition, as well as data that could identify victims.

Missouri males function prominently on the listing. They include:

This story comes from the Midwest Newsroom, an investigative journalism collaboration together with 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 observe us on Twitter.