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

The Southern Baptist Conference on Thursday launched a once-secret and lengthy list of accused intercourse abusers — several of whom are within the Midwest — within the denomination.

The 205-page list is a compilation of ministers and other church employees who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. The list is described as a “fluid, working document” that was additionally incomplete however largely pulls information about abusers from published information stories.

The publication of the checklist 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 acquired reports of sexual abuse dedicated by church staff, pastors and others. But these experiences were largely stored secret and, slightly than performing upon and investigating reports of sexual abuse, denomination leaders sought to intimidate and vilify victims and their advocates.

“The entire thing ought to be seen for what it is,” wrote former Southern Baptist Convention govt committee member and basic counsel D. August Boto in an inner electronic mail that was printed in the report. “It’s a satanic scheme to completely distract us from evangelism.”

The disaster rocking the Southern Baptist denomination this week is analogous in many ways to what the Catholic church continues to face. Leaders in each faiths systematically hid information about sexual misconduct, appeared to point out extra concern about their own legal 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 own denomination’s clergy sex 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 told, “Southern Baptist leaders truly don't have any authority over local church buildings,” a response that Doyle regarded as dismissive, based on the investigative report. 

That same year, at the SBC conference 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 “help in stopping any future sexual abuse or harassment.”

The database proposal appeared to go nowhere, based on the report, and witnesses on the conference recalled little about it besides to precise their opinion that it could “violate local church autonomy.”

In the end, a staffer for the SBC executive committee since 2007 had maintained an inventory of accused ministers and church workers, but it was kept hidden from the general public and even SBC govt committee trustees, in response to the report.

Southern Baptist leaders stated publicizing the record of credibly accused abusers represented “an initial, but vital, step in direction of addressing the scourge of sexual abuse and implementing reform within the Convention.”

“Each entry in this listing reminds us of the devastation and destruction brought about by sexual abuse,” mentioned a joint assertion from Willie McLaurin and Rolland Slade, each SBC government committee members. “Our prayer is that the survivors of those heinous acts find hope and healing, and that church buildings will utilize this listing proactively to protect and care for the most susceptible amongst us.”

Attorneys for the SBC govt committee researched the listing of accused abusers, taking steps to verify info it contained. It left unredacted entries about alleged abusers that could be confirmed, whereas redacting entries where someone was acquitted or did not have a closing disposition, in addition to information that would identify victims.

Missouri men feature prominently on the listing. They embrace:

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